Arrival...

I have landed :) Run up to leaving home included a lot of late nights, a lot of goodbyes. and a lot of running around remembering last minute things I had previously forgotten.

Apart from all that though it involved saying farewell to my much loved friends and family, in my case both groups are beyond faultless in their awesomeness and saying goodbye to them was sad indeed - it will be a long time until I get to enjoy the geekiness of the D&D games, and the joy of chatting and tea of coffee with some of the finest minds in the business (that business being life).

I shall miss you guys a lot (those in the photo as well as the ones who couldn't make it):



So... goodbyes were said at airports, nervous immigration queues were waited in (James having helpfully reminded me that the potential for immigration disaster extended well beyond a stern talking to... :P ) nevertheless, having waited for a long time and got to know Mina and her boyfriend (Mina's boyfriend didn't get to say much in the conversation) while waiting, I was accepted into Canada to be a working citizen, and went to meet Danielle at the greeting gates. I was very excited to see her. There was much catching up to be had while we drive around the city with childhood-friend-of-Danielle Tiff (mike met her in London one time)... we drove to Stanly park as the sun set - a point which is essentially a forest preserve in the middle of Vancouver with stunning views out to the Pacfic.

I felt a very long way from the sunrise I had watched heading up the M4 to London that morning. It's an amazing place - huge tankers head out along the shipping lanes and Vanoucver stretches to the mountains on either side - North and South.

Arriving at the flat I bounced around excitedly to find that it was a) very large compared to my expectations (and indeed previous houses of mine) and b) right in the middle of the city which while I knew - didn't quite hit home until I arrived.

Danielle told me to stop bouncing around with excitement because people live below us and I would have to get used to not thumping on their ceiling.

The following couple of days included adventure, sleep, adventure, excitment and adventure - I've been here 2 days now, and its been very adventureful. I bought a bike... I explored teh city on my own while Danielle was at school, I met lots of people because everyone is insanely friendly here, I got a social insurance number (ok that bit wasnt that exciting, but the guy that helped me was still very friendly) and I went to a biiiig big shop to buy ski boots and met a very friendly man and geeked out about skis for a while with him, a conversation whcih included the line "yeah dude, welcome to BC the way they are skiing downhill here is off the hook, let me just say that my waist this year is gonna be around 89mils"

I wasnt entirely sure what he meant so I left to do some reasearch

From here on in, I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Observation no.1 - It feels like I am in GTA the whole time:




The streets around my flat - at the moment Autumn is all in the trees and Vancouver is a very pretty place indeed:







I bought a bike!! There is a bike shop next to our flat - it has the friendliest bike shop assistants known to man, I took my new bike and went on some adventures!



Here's some things I saw:
















Found a piece of home down by Kitsalano beach...


... and worries about the ability to source tea were set aside (note the cuteness of trading since 1995 on the sign...)


Fruit! Granville island market...


Granville island looking back to downtown



Back together :) (d'awww)



Until next time :)