HI Everybody.
Just a quick post to say thanks for your patience and sorry for leaving you with baited breath - the course and social side has got incredibly busy recently so the last weeks activities is all only in note form at the moment. Fear not, it will all be uploaded shortly although the way things are going at the moment it will be weekly updates with the highlights in!
The course is going great and there have been many adventures to share - especially as there been so much snowfall over the last week. Check back in a couple of days to catch what has been happening and once again thanks for your patience.
Monday, 30 November 2009
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Sunday 22nd November
Today was the first proper on slope lesson. Of the 3 resorts serving Banff, todays lesson was at Sunshine Village. With the lesson starting at 10, and the bus's running at 8.30, 9.50 and 11.10 there was only 1 option of bus to get. With this in mind, alarms had been set and activity in the house started at 7.30. With 6 people and 1 bathroom, 1 kitchen getting ready in the mornings is challenging enough. Coupled with my ability to get out of bed in the morning, it was a recipe for disaster. The bus stop is a 10 minute walk away, so an alarm was set for 8,20 to remind me to leave the house. Having finally managed to get out of bed at 8, I managed to make my lunch and put the water on to boil for tea. I even had time to put breakfast in the toaster before everyone left the house. Unfortunately, I was nowhere near ready and spend the next 8 minutes finishing off. With a challenging walk ahead, my ski boots on but not done up and probably about a million things left behind i start the icy quick time march to the bus stop. at 8.32 as i reached the corner, skidding around it on one foot, poles swinging wildly and skis' teetering on the edge of my shoulder I made it just in time.... to watch the bus pull past. My first day of lessons, and i'd missed the bus - it was like school all over again! And much like school, i entertained the idea that if I ran hard enough in the same direction as the bus I might be able to overtake it at the next stop. No such luck. I sat there, panting through a haze of sweat in the -2 degrees temperature contemplating my next move. There had been a car loading up along our road, and the temptation was to take a walk back and see if they had space in the car. As only 2 resorts are open at the moment, there was an even chance they were heading that way and being Canada, hitching a lift is far more acceptable. As I sat there catching my breath, a man van pulled into the layby. By all coincidences, it was tagged up with Sunshine Village, and the driver had the blue uniform of a member of staff. "You heading to Sunshine?"...... the question hung. "Sure, hope in" Perfect, who ever said that asking didn't get you anywhere. As I clambered into the van, petting the guys dog as it explored my ear with its cold wet nose, I couldn't help but smirk. The others would have been laughing their heads off at me missing the bus, probably blaming someone for not having woken me, or for having left without me. as we drove alone, the guy got on the radio getting a number check for the bus. With a favourable reply coming back, instead of taking me all the way to resort (a good 20 minute drive) he dropped me at the last stop in town, having advised the staff on the bus he was doing so and that they should pick me up. Less than 5 minutes later, I was clambering onto the bus, grin spread from ear to ear to scattered applause and cheers, with everyone asking how I had managed it!
Once we arrived at Sunshine, it was time for breakfast. My poptarts had gone cold, stuffed in my pocket as I ran for the bus, but they still tasted great. With as much excitement as I could handle out the way for the day, the lesson proved exceedingly dull. Made even more so, by the instructor not recognising me as I was in "normal" clothes - the one peice ski suit was tucked back away for another special occasion. We got to know our instructor and the group but skied at a very slow pace, getting right back to basics on positioning and stance. Tales from the other group of skiers later in the day indicated that they had been given a little more instruction, but it was the snowboarders who rued the day, as they had all had a sick day exploring the mountain and tree runs, and taking it off piste. Lucky sods! All day my helmet had been bothering me, despite having tried it on in the shop, it just didn't seem to fit right. I decided to leave it, surely it was just me and tomorrow it would be back to fitting right - clearly my episode with the bus had swollen my head so it didn't fit.... right? Only tomorrow would tell.
It was a busy night in town on Sunday, due to the weekend and the best club night of the week. Plus the added benefit of the local CFL team playing an important game, but we opted instead for a quiet night in, I did not want a repeat of this morning as I caught the bus, and had to get an early night to make it so. With a laptop set up and Crank 2 on the go, the beers flowed fine and for a change I wasn't tempted to go out regardless. I was determined to make the bus on time!
Tomorrow, I will include 2 days worth of events in an attempt to catch up with real time. Ideally, I would like to be blogging the days activities and anything relevent from the night out before and to do this I will need to catch up first. Look forward to a double bill coming your way tomorrow!
Run out to base of Mountain at Sunshine Village
Once we arrived at Sunshine, it was time for breakfast. My poptarts had gone cold, stuffed in my pocket as I ran for the bus, but they still tasted great. With as much excitement as I could handle out the way for the day, the lesson proved exceedingly dull. Made even more so, by the instructor not recognising me as I was in "normal" clothes - the one peice ski suit was tucked back away for another special occasion. We got to know our instructor and the group but skied at a very slow pace, getting right back to basics on positioning and stance. Tales from the other group of skiers later in the day indicated that they had been given a little more instruction, but it was the snowboarders who rued the day, as they had all had a sick day exploring the mountain and tree runs, and taking it off piste. Lucky sods! All day my helmet had been bothering me, despite having tried it on in the shop, it just didn't seem to fit right. I decided to leave it, surely it was just me and tomorrow it would be back to fitting right - clearly my episode with the bus had swollen my head so it didn't fit.... right? Only tomorrow would tell.
It was a busy night in town on Sunday, due to the weekend and the best club night of the week. Plus the added benefit of the local CFL team playing an important game, but we opted instead for a quiet night in, I did not want a repeat of this morning as I caught the bus, and had to get an early night to make it so. With a laptop set up and Crank 2 on the go, the beers flowed fine and for a change I wasn't tempted to go out regardless. I was determined to make the bus on time!
Tomorrow, I will include 2 days worth of events in an attempt to catch up with real time. Ideally, I would like to be blogging the days activities and anything relevent from the night out before and to do this I will need to catch up first. Look forward to a double bill coming your way tomorrow!
Run out to base of Mountain at Sunshine Village
Saturday 21st November 2009
Today, the course officially kicked off. It started at 9am with a Technical session from Brett from a specialist boot fitting store in town. No surprises, it was about boot fitting. The entire course was there, skiers and snowboarders alike, some of us slightly tired/hungover from the previous nights antics, some fresh as daisys as they had been awake for a few hours due to not coping with the time zone change. As Brett was talking, it started to sink in. I was out here, finally doing it. In just a few weeks I'd be a qualified instructor, teaching groups of 6 year olds and having to help them with their boots and skiing. Scary. Still, the more I listened the more i took in, and then something he said made me realise that the oots I had been wearing for the last few years weren't (or probably weren't) correctly fitted to my feet. There seemed to be a few of us thinking the same thing as after his talk while everyone went to get ready 5 or 6 of us queued up to chat to him to see what could be done. Having booked an appointment for later that afternoon, it was time to walk home and get my ski gear together. I'd planned on not going up the mountain today and instead focus on getting all my gear together and bought. After 5 years without, I had decided that it was time to take the plunge and buy a helmet (as an early christmas present with the money that had been given to me already - many thanks to Nonna, Sam, Roman and Gill, the money has been put to good use slightly early - Happy Christmas!). However, always easily persuaded I found myself talked into going up with the group to ski the first afternoon together. I headed home and chatted to my housemates over a cup of tea. Still tired from last night, and with everyone dropping out like flies around me, 5 minutes before needing to leave i dashed to get changed and made the bus on time. Getting up the mountain, it was a complete white out. With no goggles (i was supposed to be buying those today as well) it was rather cold, miserable and within minutes of getting on the first run I'd scraped a gouge out the bottom of my skis on the rocks and subsequently lost the group. Thankfully we had just taken the time to go off on our own and so 40 minutes late we rejoined the entire group and split up to "explore the mountain" with people who had been out a number of years. It was a quiet day skiing, with poor visibility and freezing cold weather, the main highlight for everyone was me in a retro pink 1 piece ski suit. the housemates had spotted it as I unpacked the other night and demanded that I wore it out! A nice early finish followed up with a hot chocolate at the bottom of the mountain before getting the bus home meant that we were back with plenty of time. The walk from the bus stop home kept everyone amused as every car that went passed nearly caused accidents as they double took on the pink one piece. Pure comic genius.
Tonight was out first mean together as a group, however I needed to go shopping first and headed out with plenty of time to spare. Banff is full of shops selling helmets tho, so hopping from one to another took massive amounts of time, and when I finally decided i'd try "just one more" shop to see if they had what i needed I found it. A nearly perfect helmet, with built in speakers and a nice white look, coupled with some sexy yellow goggles just outside my budget meant I was 10 minutes late for dinner. It wasnt until I walked in that Harriet, one of my housemates, remembered that they had forgotten me!
Dinner was laid on with the course, but drinks were on us. Having been on a shopping spree already I definitely needed something to calm my nerves at all the money I had spent and the venue had a cocktail menu. The poor waitress must have been new as she hadn't ever tried any of them so couldn't recommend a good one - the best she could come up with was what had been ordered the most, so blindly i agreed and one elk sized blind oarsman later I was much happier to be half way through the shopping spree.
After dinner, I packed myself off to the boot fitting shop to have my boots checked out. Brett was an absolute star again, as he sized up my boots and confidently told me that there were an entire size too big. The effect this had was that my control of the my ski was severely diminished, and so he set about adding pads and bits of felt in all sorts of places, explaining as he went how each would re-distribute pressure to the right spots. While I was being sorted, Bianca off the course came in for the second time of the evening. She was collecting her new boots, having been in earlier and discovering the same thing, she had been less resistant in the new boot offers Brett was offering and had caved under the pressure. She still ended up paying less for her correctly fitted, custom moulded boots with new socks than I had for the boots alone. Equipment out here surely is cheaper. She also managed to pass on the location of the group for the evening drinking, and while I continued to shop for more bits, she went to join everyone there.
My shopping spree ended. New helmet, goggles and face warmer, consultation fee and labour on my boots and over $300 later - it was time to join them all myself. Tommies was a lovely little local bar, hiddne below road level with scaffolding and building work on just outside. many hours later there were 4 of us left. "Lesson tomorrow, lets call it a night. We'll have a big one tomorrow night!" was how it was left and the stagger home saw the end of another eventful day in Banff.
Tonight was out first mean together as a group, however I needed to go shopping first and headed out with plenty of time to spare. Banff is full of shops selling helmets tho, so hopping from one to another took massive amounts of time, and when I finally decided i'd try "just one more" shop to see if they had what i needed I found it. A nearly perfect helmet, with built in speakers and a nice white look, coupled with some sexy yellow goggles just outside my budget meant I was 10 minutes late for dinner. It wasnt until I walked in that Harriet, one of my housemates, remembered that they had forgotten me!
Dinner was laid on with the course, but drinks were on us. Having been on a shopping spree already I definitely needed something to calm my nerves at all the money I had spent and the venue had a cocktail menu. The poor waitress must have been new as she hadn't ever tried any of them so couldn't recommend a good one - the best she could come up with was what had been ordered the most, so blindly i agreed and one elk sized blind oarsman later I was much happier to be half way through the shopping spree.
After dinner, I packed myself off to the boot fitting shop to have my boots checked out. Brett was an absolute star again, as he sized up my boots and confidently told me that there were an entire size too big. The effect this had was that my control of the my ski was severely diminished, and so he set about adding pads and bits of felt in all sorts of places, explaining as he went how each would re-distribute pressure to the right spots. While I was being sorted, Bianca off the course came in for the second time of the evening. She was collecting her new boots, having been in earlier and discovering the same thing, she had been less resistant in the new boot offers Brett was offering and had caved under the pressure. She still ended up paying less for her correctly fitted, custom moulded boots with new socks than I had for the boots alone. Equipment out here surely is cheaper. She also managed to pass on the location of the group for the evening drinking, and while I continued to shop for more bits, she went to join everyone there.
My shopping spree ended. New helmet, goggles and face warmer, consultation fee and labour on my boots and over $300 later - it was time to join them all myself. Tommies was a lovely little local bar, hiddne below road level with scaffolding and building work on just outside. many hours later there were 4 of us left. "Lesson tomorrow, lets call it a night. We'll have a big one tomorrow night!" was how it was left and the stagger home saw the end of another eventful day in Banff.
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Friday 20th November 2009
Today had been planned as my first snow day. Despite still needing to buy loads of equipment and sort a bunch of other stuff out, the calling of the mountain was too much. There are 3 busses running to the open resort of Sunshine Village, the first at 8.30, then 9.50 and finally 11.10. Due to the drinks the night before and still adjusting to the time difference, getting up to walk into town to collect my lift pass anytime before 9.30 wasnt going to happen so I arranged with housemate Kira that i'd go up with her on the 11.10 bus while everyone else took the earlier bus. So as they were all preparing to head to the bus stop, up I got to make the walk into town, arriving at the pass collection centre I received some bad news. All season passes were issued with a photo and so once again my hat had to come off. So much for hiding the damage - the gitls behind the desk exchanged some furtive mirthful glances but didnt say anything to my obvious discomfort or my slightly turned angle for the photograph. They did however "somehow" mess up the first attempt so my pass was printed with a black square instead of a picture, meaning once again the hat came off for another photo! Once finished up getting my pass I decided to start browsing for 5 minutes before heading home to gear up, only to be tapped on the shoulder by the course co-ordinator Emily as she had recognised me. 15 minutes of chatting later I was once again true to form running late and had to break of the conversation to dash home for the bus. Arriving to gear up just as Kira had decided she couldnt wait any longer we were very shortly on our way to the bus stop. Catching a bus to get to a ski slope was a new experience for me, all my previous ski trips were ski in/ski out of within a short walk of the slope. Sunshine Village is a 20 minute bus journey away, plus extra time for loading people on at all the stops but by 12 we arrived at resort, and made it up the gondola to the village part of the mountain. Sunshine is home to the areas only ski in/ski out hotel as well as having plenty of facilities for people arriving on the mountain just to ski. Kira was suffering from a damaged knee so headed off on her own to gently test it, while I set out to find the others while easing myself back into being on Ski's. a few runs later and i started pushing it harder and harder, eventually working up to a powder stack in the late afternoon. 3 hours of skiing later I still hadn't found the other guys, but having reached the limit of how hard I could push without injuring myself I headed down the mountain and got back onto the coach, only to be joined moments later by the elusive housemates who I'd been looking for all day! It certainly is a different way to end the days ski, being more used to hitting a bar for some apres ski before dinner or making sure everyone knew about dinner on the university trips - here I was able to just rest and nearly fall asleep.
Once home, it was time to cook and relax before heading out to meet the new arrivals for the course due to arrive from the group flight about 6. However, delays on their flights and transports meant they were late arriving and a message was left with 2 girls who had been in town a while so that they could come and join us at the pub after they arrived to help the jetlag. When we turned up to the bar they were nowhere to be seen and when eventually the group did show up it was only people who had been in resort previously anyway so there was no newcomers. Still, we got right onto the drinking, and as things always go - we ended up on the pool table. Through sheer luck and some incredibly fluky shots, when the group left for the night club, I was still winning and in control of the table. Having promised to follow along, nearly an hour later i gracefully retired, handing the reins over to a worthy component who lost out only to peculiarities of Canadian rules. Heading off, the group has seriously diminished when I arrived at one of 2 night clubs in Banff, Hoodoos. Perhaps this was due to the ...interesting... dj skills, who's tracks included dance remixes of The Beatles and Black Sabbath. Another late night later, it was time to head home for the course to start tomorrow with a technical briefing session at 9am.
Once home, it was time to cook and relax before heading out to meet the new arrivals for the course due to arrive from the group flight about 6. However, delays on their flights and transports meant they were late arriving and a message was left with 2 girls who had been in town a while so that they could come and join us at the pub after they arrived to help the jetlag. When we turned up to the bar they were nowhere to be seen and when eventually the group did show up it was only people who had been in resort previously anyway so there was no newcomers. Still, we got right onto the drinking, and as things always go - we ended up on the pool table. Through sheer luck and some incredibly fluky shots, when the group left for the night club, I was still winning and in control of the table. Having promised to follow along, nearly an hour later i gracefully retired, handing the reins over to a worthy component who lost out only to peculiarities of Canadian rules. Heading off, the group has seriously diminished when I arrived at one of 2 night clubs in Banff, Hoodoos. Perhaps this was due to the ...interesting... dj skills, who's tracks included dance remixes of The Beatles and Black Sabbath. Another late night later, it was time to head home for the course to start tomorrow with a technical briefing session at 9am.
Saturday, 21 November 2009
Thursday 19th November Pictures
One of the many mountains visible from Banff Avenue.
Bandstand and park in Banff
Banf Post Office.
Banff Town Hall
Thursday 19th November
Before even leaving the UK, I had an appointment booked in the Bank of Montreal to set up my account so that I could be paid over here. I'd arranged it for 11am to make sure I had time to get out of bed, however last nights escapades meant that i was not so refreshed as needed, and nor was anyone else. I'd been offered a guide for the day, but by the time I was up, had deciphered how to get a cold shower as hot was too complicated and breakfasted (yeah strange as it is I am currently eating breakfast out here!) it was nearly 11am and my guide was no where near ready to leave. With a hand written map in my pocket, I set out alone to find the bank and surprisingly arrived only 5 mins late for my appointment. The bank was deserted, and having asked for who i needed to see i was parked in a seat to watch the 3 other customers who came in while i was waiting. I couldn't quite tell if i was waiting to get me back because i had arrived late or because the accounts advisor was busy, but eventually I was called to the office and less than 20 mins later i was out of there, with a bank card, some money deposited and dismayed by the charge on insurance and other basic functions - like withdrawing money! Still, I was now able to be paid, and proceeded to wander the town to get my bearings.
I found many places which might be important - the hospital, the fire station, the police station.... and by the time i headed back I had a fair idea of where places were. At least well enough to find the supermarket where i randomly bumped into all my housemates. Once home, it was finally time to unpack. Despite my heroic efforts to throw out half my wardrobe before leaving, i discovered I still had far too many clothes. Just as I finished, my laptop binged and through the wonders of Skype - Mum and Dad got the guided tour of the house. Contact with home out the way, we all got dressed up for the weekly special in town. 25 cent bbq chicken wings at the pub, followed by Bingo! With prizes of 20 bucks up for grabs and bingo boards starting at a buck a board it was a cheap night out with a high potential for a good return. The downside to it was that the bingo is held at the local legionnaires club - and as a sign of respect there is a strict no hats rule. Disaster! Thankfully all the housemates had mostly laughed it through their system by now so it was only the rest of Banff that had to endure it! And considering that the venue was packed to capacity, it was a good thing we were sat in the corner. Only Sarah managed to win any money this week, better luck next week!
I found many places which might be important - the hospital, the fire station, the police station.... and by the time i headed back I had a fair idea of where places were. At least well enough to find the supermarket where i randomly bumped into all my housemates. Once home, it was finally time to unpack. Despite my heroic efforts to throw out half my wardrobe before leaving, i discovered I still had far too many clothes. Just as I finished, my laptop binged and through the wonders of Skype - Mum and Dad got the guided tour of the house. Contact with home out the way, we all got dressed up for the weekly special in town. 25 cent bbq chicken wings at the pub, followed by Bingo! With prizes of 20 bucks up for grabs and bingo boards starting at a buck a board it was a cheap night out with a high potential for a good return. The downside to it was that the bingo is held at the local legionnaires club - and as a sign of respect there is a strict no hats rule. Disaster! Thankfully all the housemates had mostly laughed it through their system by now so it was only the rest of Banff that had to endure it! And considering that the venue was packed to capacity, it was a good thing we were sat in the corner. Only Sarah managed to win any money this week, better luck next week!
Wednesday 18th November - Part 2
Waiting in line for my bags to be searched it was clear to see that it was late in the afternoon. The 7 bag-checkers were stood around with 1 open suitcase and very little action. With the minutes ticking down, i was finally called forward to hand my landing card over. One glance at it and they disappeared off to the office behind. I have to admit, at this point I was starting to worry that they were preparing some rubber gloves! The card was passed from person to person, evidently working its way up the chain of command to see what had to be done. Eventually I was called over to a table. Considering the delicate nature of my packing, I was dreading having to take everything out. Both items of hand luggage were stuffed full, my skis had been eased into their bag surrounded by clothing and the bag was busting at the seams. The rest of my clothes were vacuum packed to save space.... to unpack it all now would take hours! "You got a work permit now?" I was asked. As soon as I said yes, he handed my passport back, and waved me through. 15 minutes of checking paperwork, and the buck being passed from person to person to check whether I had a permit.... perfect. I made a mad dash to the arrivals area, searching left right and centre for the reception desk for my transport. As i walked up to the desk, the cute blonde behind it looked up and smiled. "Hi Rob, we're holding the coach for you - i'l show you where it's waiting." Before I could even say a word I'd been welcomed and directed to the coach.
Finally able to sit down and relax, but with no chance to have contacted my new house mates, no chance to have called anyone to say i'd arrived safely. It was time - time to do what id not planned on being able to do. I turned my mobile phone on! Many data charges later to try contact my new housemates, and a text back home to say I'd arrived and I'd roamed in Canada! The coach journey was otherwise blissfully uneventful. Perhaps due to the size of the country and how dispersed all the houses were, everywhere was pitch black. Which just gave even more emphasis to the bizarre road systems. The main "motorway" had sets of traffic lights with regular intersections along, and it was great to see that even driving on the wrong side of the road, lane discipline was just as bad over here too!
Thankfully, the coach does door to door stops, and so the driver called me up and he parked up outside. Dumping my bags on the snow covered ground - i was pointed at 413. Which had 2 doors. The driver smirked and drove off. Having dragged my bags infront of both of them I stood there trying to decide which one I had to go through, my hands frozen and my gloves too far away, so I couldn't even toss a coin for it. Instead, I knocked on both at the same time! Moments later both doors flew open, both had been opened by girls! The boys had apparantly and shotgunned not getting the door, and instead left it to the girls to see who the strange knocking was. Within minutes I was in the stood in the kitchen meeting everyone over a beer. They'd been waiting for me to arrive to head out for dinner - Subways! Hundreds of miles away and in another country and I was eating Subway. But its not subway like we have back home, for a start they had changed the breads around. The standard choice of hearty italian had been scrapped and replaced with parmessan and oregano, and they had a new option - Flatbread. The slowest serving time ever experienced was fillled with intricate detail of Subway breads and how confused we all were.
From dinner, we headed to the "cheapest place to drink" and got the pitchers in, where we were eventually joined by the remainder of the Cougar challet residents. All 12 of us sat around and chatting, with the Canadian open mic night going on. To fully celebrate the Cougar lodge completion we decided to make a full night of it, and we got a group photo at the same time!
Finally able to sit down and relax, but with no chance to have contacted my new house mates, no chance to have called anyone to say i'd arrived safely. It was time - time to do what id not planned on being able to do. I turned my mobile phone on! Many data charges later to try contact my new housemates, and a text back home to say I'd arrived and I'd roamed in Canada! The coach journey was otherwise blissfully uneventful. Perhaps due to the size of the country and how dispersed all the houses were, everywhere was pitch black. Which just gave even more emphasis to the bizarre road systems. The main "motorway" had sets of traffic lights with regular intersections along, and it was great to see that even driving on the wrong side of the road, lane discipline was just as bad over here too!
Thankfully, the coach does door to door stops, and so the driver called me up and he parked up outside. Dumping my bags on the snow covered ground - i was pointed at 413. Which had 2 doors. The driver smirked and drove off. Having dragged my bags infront of both of them I stood there trying to decide which one I had to go through, my hands frozen and my gloves too far away, so I couldn't even toss a coin for it. Instead, I knocked on both at the same time! Moments later both doors flew open, both had been opened by girls! The boys had apparantly and shotgunned not getting the door, and instead left it to the girls to see who the strange knocking was. Within minutes I was in the stood in the kitchen meeting everyone over a beer. They'd been waiting for me to arrive to head out for dinner - Subways! Hundreds of miles away and in another country and I was eating Subway. But its not subway like we have back home, for a start they had changed the breads around. The standard choice of hearty italian had been scrapped and replaced with parmessan and oregano, and they had a new option - Flatbread. The slowest serving time ever experienced was fillled with intricate detail of Subway breads and how confused we all were.
From dinner, we headed to the "cheapest place to drink" and got the pitchers in, where we were eventually joined by the remainder of the Cougar challet residents. All 12 of us sat around and chatting, with the Canadian open mic night going on. To fully celebrate the Cougar lodge completion we decided to make a full night of it, and we got a group photo at the same time!
Cougar Crew
Many bars later we called it a night, having introduced me to pitchers, the cheapest 2 bars and so many other sights and sounds, at 9.30am UK i finally called it a night and settled down to sleep in what would be my bed for the next 7 months.
Friday, 20 November 2009
Wednesday 18th November
Departure.
My flight out the country was scheduled for 2.55pm, Wednesday 18th November 2009. Mum had very kindly agreed to pick me up from Portsmouth after my "Final Send off" on Tuesday night. I dont think she quite realised at the time quite what that might mean. Despite numerous wake-up calls, and even toast hand delivered to my "bed", At 10.30 (departure time) I was still in dire need of a shower to remove the black marker pen and had still not seen the full effect of the night before's antics. With everyone sat around we recapped some of the nights events, until Mum rang to say she was outside but there was no parking available. Finally jarred into action - I flew to the shower while cars were re-shuffled and Mum was then entertained downstairs. A groggy 15 minutes later I was back - having cleared as best possible the pen off and having assessed the damage to my head. 5 years of harsh tricks on people at Uni has finally had payback - although it did take Mum a little while to notice!
After much rushing around, I was ready, Mum was back in the car all my bags had been taken out and it was time for goodbyes. As I stood there, with 4 of the 5 fools who had put up with me on the sofa for the last month chatting about the events of the previous nights it felt more like I was off on a weeks holiday. A few hugs later, and I was off. It wasn't sinking in yet that I wouldn't be back. I'd borrowed a hat to cover the failed mohican look and settled down into the car to go get my Canadian Dollars, adjusting it to a "jaunty" angle to hide the missing eyebrow. We were only 1 hour late leaving, and with a 5 minute stop off to collect the money what could possibly go wrong.
Arriving at the Ferry Port, the collection point for my money, we were directed into a car park right on the outskirts of the port, due to "congestion" which actually turned out to be just some building work. After 5 minutes of patiently waiting in the queue with very little action occurring in front of me, I was finally asked to take a seat to wait. It turns out that the 2 guys ahead, despite their young age, were entirely unable to fill in the required details for a cash passport online and had made the unfortunate assistant fill it all in for them. a lengthy task. After spending less than 2 minites at the collection counter, we were once again off! Now just past 12, a mere 1hour 30 mins behind schedule we started the journey to the airport - giving me the perfect opportunity to have a nap to try and recover. With the sat nav giving us an ETA of 2.20 and gates closing at 2.25 we started puzzling it.... and came to the conclussion the time must be wrong on the sat nav. An hour later, nap done, and ready to join the M25 and we discovered the problem. Instead of the clockwise 10 minute journey to the airport, clever sat nav had decided that we should go anti-clock wise for 1hour 10 minutes! Thankfully as both of us had brains, sat nav was retired and we reached the airport with plenty of time to spare.
Still not feeling the imminent departure, goodbyes were said and I was through to Security. Thankfully there was plenty of spare. My 2 items of handlugage include too many electrical items, which cluttered the xray scan so badly that my laptop bag had to be emptied to go through again! Finally with all cables wire and devices scanned and repacked I could move on - and finally had a chance to sit down, reply to a few of the masses of text message wishing me well, and make the promised phone calls. Boarding was smooth as pie, and the benefits of early check in was proven with my acres of leg room and great stretching out. I was next to a spectacularly untalkative Canadian heading home from a European tour. He was stuck with conversation as we waited ages for the plane to be refuelled and could finally take off before the entertainment system could be started.
A short nap, a couple of films, some tv and 9 hours later - We'd arrived in Canada.Clearing the plane at 5.30pm I had an hour to make it through customs and baggage collection. No problem right? Wrong. As is always the way when there is a choice of queues, I managed to choose the slowest moving one. As my passport was about to be checked, a change of passport officers had me standing at the front of the queue for a further few minutes. Once through, it was time to get my work permit. Stood there with bullet proof vests, thickset scowls, the Canadian officials chatted more about how i had to give up beer as they dont have that over here and instead needed to drink Jack Daniels than any serious questions about me getting in and after they had broken, then fixed the printer I was issued my work permit and off to baggage reclaim. My delays meant my bags were already circulating, and i grabbed them and moved onto Customs balancing the over packed ski bag as it wobbled into everyone and everything. Due to the Christmas Cake declared on my landing card, I was directed to have my bags searched.... approaching 6.15 with my bus leaving at 6.30 and the extremly overpacked nature of my bags I was getting worried!
Find out in the next post what happens! :-)
My flight out the country was scheduled for 2.55pm, Wednesday 18th November 2009. Mum had very kindly agreed to pick me up from Portsmouth after my "Final Send off" on Tuesday night. I dont think she quite realised at the time quite what that might mean. Despite numerous wake-up calls, and even toast hand delivered to my "bed", At 10.30 (departure time) I was still in dire need of a shower to remove the black marker pen and had still not seen the full effect of the night before's antics. With everyone sat around we recapped some of the nights events, until Mum rang to say she was outside but there was no parking available. Finally jarred into action - I flew to the shower while cars were re-shuffled and Mum was then entertained downstairs. A groggy 15 minutes later I was back - having cleared as best possible the pen off and having assessed the damage to my head. 5 years of harsh tricks on people at Uni has finally had payback - although it did take Mum a little while to notice!
Effects of Last Night Out
After much rushing around, I was ready, Mum was back in the car all my bags had been taken out and it was time for goodbyes. As I stood there, with 4 of the 5 fools who had put up with me on the sofa for the last month chatting about the events of the previous nights it felt more like I was off on a weeks holiday. A few hugs later, and I was off. It wasn't sinking in yet that I wouldn't be back. I'd borrowed a hat to cover the failed mohican look and settled down into the car to go get my Canadian Dollars, adjusting it to a "jaunty" angle to hide the missing eyebrow. We were only 1 hour late leaving, and with a 5 minute stop off to collect the money what could possibly go wrong.
Arriving at the Ferry Port, the collection point for my money, we were directed into a car park right on the outskirts of the port, due to "congestion" which actually turned out to be just some building work. After 5 minutes of patiently waiting in the queue with very little action occurring in front of me, I was finally asked to take a seat to wait. It turns out that the 2 guys ahead, despite their young age, were entirely unable to fill in the required details for a cash passport online and had made the unfortunate assistant fill it all in for them. a lengthy task. After spending less than 2 minites at the collection counter, we were once again off! Now just past 12, a mere 1hour 30 mins behind schedule we started the journey to the airport - giving me the perfect opportunity to have a nap to try and recover. With the sat nav giving us an ETA of 2.20 and gates closing at 2.25 we started puzzling it.... and came to the conclussion the time must be wrong on the sat nav. An hour later, nap done, and ready to join the M25 and we discovered the problem. Instead of the clockwise 10 minute journey to the airport, clever sat nav had decided that we should go anti-clock wise for 1hour 10 minutes! Thankfully as both of us had brains, sat nav was retired and we reached the airport with plenty of time to spare.
Still not feeling the imminent departure, goodbyes were said and I was through to Security. Thankfully there was plenty of spare. My 2 items of handlugage include too many electrical items, which cluttered the xray scan so badly that my laptop bag had to be emptied to go through again! Finally with all cables wire and devices scanned and repacked I could move on - and finally had a chance to sit down, reply to a few of the masses of text message wishing me well, and make the promised phone calls. Boarding was smooth as pie, and the benefits of early check in was proven with my acres of leg room and great stretching out. I was next to a spectacularly untalkative Canadian heading home from a European tour. He was stuck with conversation as we waited ages for the plane to be refuelled and could finally take off before the entertainment system could be started.
Last view of UK before take off.
A short nap, a couple of films, some tv and 9 hours later - We'd arrived in Canada.Clearing the plane at 5.30pm I had an hour to make it through customs and baggage collection. No problem right? Wrong. As is always the way when there is a choice of queues, I managed to choose the slowest moving one. As my passport was about to be checked, a change of passport officers had me standing at the front of the queue for a further few minutes. Once through, it was time to get my work permit. Stood there with bullet proof vests, thickset scowls, the Canadian officials chatted more about how i had to give up beer as they dont have that over here and instead needed to drink Jack Daniels than any serious questions about me getting in and after they had broken, then fixed the printer I was issued my work permit and off to baggage reclaim. My delays meant my bags were already circulating, and i grabbed them and moved onto Customs balancing the over packed ski bag as it wobbled into everyone and everything. Due to the Christmas Cake declared on my landing card, I was directed to have my bags searched.... approaching 6.15 with my bus leaving at 6.30 and the extremly overpacked nature of my bags I was getting worried!
Find out in the next post what happens! :-)
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