A happy-go-lucky English rambler dude goes to New Zealand for a year. Here he interfaces with some of those he left behind and details his nefarious activities. Or summat.
Recently clicked on MP3s - 7th June 2005 The Lucksmiths - Warmer Corners
Jens Lekman - When i said i wanted to be your dog
The Trashcan Sinatras - Weightlifting
Teenage Fanclub - Man Made
Laura Veirs - Carbon Glacier
The Decemberists - Picaresque
The Eels - Blinking Lights
Sunday, September 01, 2002
Sorry for the total lack of updates lately. My only excuse is that i've been having far too good a time here in the land of Bryan Adams and checked shirts, to be faffing around in front of a computer. And i'm sure i'll be getting more than my fair share of computers when i go back to work...
What's been going on then? Well some of the edited highlights follow....
The weeks cycling round Vancouver.... Had a great time, didn't see any bears, but at one point i was forced to engage asquirrel in Mortal Kombat! (No really, it was throwing those pine cones at me with a passion). During the week we also met an Inuit Princess, shared a hostel with an 11 piece latino band (Who were up till 5am in the spa bath, getting pissed(er) and singing La Bamba, grrr) and i discovered they joys of Power Bars (For me, they had a similar effect to drinking 5 cups of coffee, and 3 litres of Lucozade).
Martin was great company too, not to mention doing all the route finding, shopping and cooking! Allowing me to crash out, and be a total lazy arse, after cycling 70-90k each day, why aren't all my other friends like that? (Guess i don't pay them enough i suppose :o( )
Although the cycling was great fun, the highlight of Canada has to be getting to know a whole new branch of the Edward clan, that until now were just names on Xmas cards. The 16 hour Greyhound journey over to Edmonton was hard work, but after that i was completely looked after, firstly being whisked off to Allen & Myrna's famous "House by the lake", where swimming, canoeing, Margeritas, pizza and pool were the order of the day :oD
Oddly my visit coincided with the Women's under 19 world cup, which is being held in Edmonton. Even more odd-er-ly, the day after i arrived England were playing Canada in the quarter finals! Naturally we attended, though Allen, Myrna and Tibor seemed completely oblivious to the fact that the big, nasty Canadian team were bullying the poor little English team, the only reason they won, er, 6-2. Humph. Once i'd cheered up after the loss (Took about 15 mins) it was off out for a slap up feed at the local Country club!, followed by Allen, Tibor and I going for an impromptu rally around the golf course, in a Golf cart clearly made for two people :o) [Late Footy update - The Canadians went on to kick to the crap out of the poncey Brazilians in the Semi, hurrah! All is forgiven]
I also discovered that the genes for Snowboarding and Musical ability are all on the Canadian side of the family :o(
Although i never got to see her in action, clearly Ainsley is slightly more advanced at the art of snowboarding than Alison and I - she wears a helmet, and does tricks. The only trick i managed whilst snowboarding was to scythe down an entire ski class of five year olds in a single turn (Sort-of on purpose).
And judging from the cd that Alexis, my personal tour guide to the groovier bits of Edmonton, gave me, she certainly has all of the vocal / guitar talent in the family. She's just back from a European tour with her choir, as well as singing & playing gee-tar in a band (I do hope you've sent that cd off to a few record labels Alexis? Crawlspace ROX!). (Alexis - "shut UP!")
Oh, and the Wilco gig last night was certainly worth putting back my flight for, sorry once again to everyone who's plans i messed up :o) Only a few hours to go before my flight now, so what should i do for my last activity on my travels? Well i'm going to take the ferry over to the North shore of Vancouver, home to the worlds most extreme mountain bikers, and go..... Rambling! Actually extreme, speed rambling to be precise, and try and beat my last time up the Grouse Grind. I can't really think of a more appropriate way to end my year (Apart from big-pants trekking maybe, but i think i'll save that till i get home :o)
10:58 pm
