Stranded in paradise

This is going to have to be a quickie.

I am waiting in Jasper station waiting for the VIA train which was supposed to have arrived this morning and taken me to Vancouver this evening. Due to a derailment, the train was delayed by some 12+ hours and I was forced to spend another evening at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. Oh no. I can think of much worse places to be stranded :) So I spent the day relaxing in the jacuzzi and boating on the lake.
It was sumptious, for lack of a better word.

Unfortunately I have had to get up at 3.30am to get to the station for departure at 5-15am. I am therefore a bit sleepy still.

I still haven't seen a moose and my tour of the Rockies is over.Ah well. Better luck next time.

Spot the wild animals

I am now in Banff.

I spent two days aboard the Rocky Mountaineer with only one stopover in Kamloops.
It was a very interesting journey - no effort required aside from eating, sleeping and spotting wild animals. It reminded me a lot of our family car journeys when I was younger, counting number plates to pass the time. Of course, there was a little more camaraderie on the train, with some 35 people in our carriage trying to spot moose at 50mph. I was rudely awakened at one point; "Lindsey, quick, there's a bear!". It turned out to be two black logs.

Yesterday evening we arrived in Banff. Staying in the very plush Banff Springs hotel, with its golf course, spa and numerous shops and restaurants, there is not much to complain about. I took a gondola up Sulphur Mountain today and was overwhelmed by the beautiful vistas at some 9000 ft above sea level.
The town here is picturesque but borderline tacky. Too many shops selling cuddly grizzly bears and fake moose driving license plates. The scenery is spectacular though and it's quite unreal to be walking along with mountains all around.

Tomorrow I am off to lake Louise. There is nothing to do there except stay in the hotel and relax. Can't complain too much about that :)

Touchdown

It's my third day in Vancouver. I've finally managed to adjust to the local time here.
There was something very odd about flying out on Saturday morning, spending 10 hours on the plane but not seeing any darkness, and then landing on Saturday morning having to relive the whole day again.

Vancouver thus far has pretty much exceeded my expectations. It has all the elements that I live about this side of the world, without the things that I dislike. I mean, jam is called jam here. The people are friendly and living is as cheap as you want it to be. The roads are wide, the water is clean and there are japanese restaurants in abundance. Heaven! It's all cheap and good too.

Tommorrow I will be boarding the Rocky Mountaineer as part of my 9 day tour in the Rockies. Within these 9 days I hope to see a few grizzly bears, some moose, and perhaps a Mountie or two. I don't really know what else to expect - I have an itinerary but haven't read it. I want everything to be a surprise.

One thing I have noticed over the last few days is the massive population of orientals here, everywhere I go there are large groups of chinese, japanese and koreans. It's reassuring, for some reason.

Over and out.

Winding down

I knew that going for a quick v+c in the pub after work was a great idea. I still haven't packed,
but now I'm not in the least stressed about it :)

I have a Dominos pizza on the way and Radiohead on in the background. I'm sure that I'll manage to get everything done in time. All I need to remember is my passport and credit card.
So what if I get to Vancouver and find that all I've packed is a duvet and a string vest? :)

This could potentially be my last post for two weeks. I just want to remember how chilled out I feel now, this autumn Friday after a very long week at work. I think I could tolerate living the rest of my life feeling like this.

Working in the Menagerie

Apparently I have been called the Iron Lady by some in the office. Strange, I always thought that I was a pussycat but I guess you have to know the magic words.

It's beautiful and quiet in the office this morning. It's still early, and it's Friday. Hurrah for Fridays.

Speaking of animals, I recently spent an idle hour trying to match my colleagues to their animal equivalent. Thus far I have: a weasel, a badger (this is well known), a polar bear, a giraffe, a sheepdog, a chimp and a siamese cat. I'm thinking that this would make a fantastic cartoon..

Wax lyrical

I invested no small amount of money yesterday on some no-heat hair removal wax.
It's still sitting on the side. I weighed the idea of having smooth stubble free pins against the pain of ripping hairs by the ten dozen and Common Sense won out.
It's cold in Canada at the moment anyway :)

I wonder why we girls subject ourselves to this kind of pain? Do men really care if our legs are a little fuzzy?

Terminal Velocity

1 more day to go. I haven't packed, I haven't done my laundry, I am in no position to go on holiday for 2 weeks. What's happened? I am usually so well organised.
I am too exhausted to feel excited. I've just hit my 48th hour at work and Flip Flap is doing my head in.

Think I'm going to leave the office now and go home.

Wise words

A professor stood before his Philosophy 101 class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous - - yes.

The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and proceeded to pour the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed. "Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things - - your family, your partner, your health, your children, your friends, your favourite passions - - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full." "The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else - - the small stuff." "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. Play another 18. There will always be time for me to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal." "Take care of the golf balls first -- the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.
The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers!

Whatever happened to Poptarts?

It was the start of a beautiful morning when I stepped out of the door. The air was crisp and cool, autumn is finally here.It felt like I had turned to a new chapter in a book, and the plot had moved to new places. And then the sun came out!
So I am in a great mood today despite the fact that I have had the worst support day for months, and that I will have worked yet another 12 hour day come 7pm.

Today's thought turns to the smells that remind me most of home.
Home for me is the UK most of the time, but occasionally it's Hong Kong.
This morning as I was walking along the road to the station, I was overwhelmed by the smell of toast. Not so surprising, as it was 6.30am and I guess people would have been having their breakfasts.
The smell of toast is so British - it always makes me think of home. More specifically, it makes me think of B&Bs, and holidays in the countryside or seaside.
For Hong Kong, the smell is sandalwood incense. My grandparents burn it twice a day to honour our ancestors. With that smell brings heat, noise and the gentle breeze of a fan circulating the air around my grandma's tiny flat.

Hmm. Just trying to think of the smell that reminds me of this office. Starbucks coffee maybe :)

Thus spake the fieldmouse

Remember the Timmy/Milly fieldmouse problem?

Well, Milly did tell Timmy her feelings for him. Timmy was troubled as he had never considered anything more than friendship but the evil seed was sown. Plus Milly was quite an attractive fieldmouse at that. Timmy decided that the best plan of action was to ignore the problem.

And the ending? Milly told Timmy that she was no longer going to talk to him as she thought that he was treating her as a substitute girlfriend.

Yeah, the female race is strange. There is no real logic to their actions. I wish I could explain why I do things but aside from the silly things that I do under the influence of alcohol (champagne in particular), I can't.

Consonant please Bob

I'm in Countdown mode this week. This time on Saturday I will be at Stansted Airport waiting to get on my flight to Vancouver. The excitement hasn't quite hit home yet thanks to the person who has put me on support this week so I will be doubly glad to get away.

Someone told me last week that the weatherman had forecasted a beautiful hot September in London. This past weekend tells me that this is obviously not the case. Therefore I have no misgivings about going off to cooler climes where the bears and moose roam.

Speaking of moose, I damn well hope that I get to see one. There is something very appealing about them - perhaps it's the sheer size, or the sheepish expressions they have (wonder where that expression came from, sheep never struck me as having any notable facial expressions). Thus far, the closest I have ever come to a moose, is on a dinner plate in Sweden. I don't recommend it.

Insomnia

Curse the evil drink. I have the sultry words of Maxy Jazz spinning in my head this morning.
What hope is there for me with such gluttony and vice staining my soul? Curse you, Perignon for my suffering.

Bikini Barbie

Following on from my last post - I've been thinking about what it would be like to be
really small, like pocket-sized. I used to love reading the Borrowers as a child (haven't seen the movie so I can't comment on that).
I could ride around in people's pockets and spy on people from behind the clock on the mantlepiece. As a job I could charge people to help them cheat in their exams. I could make a whole meal out of a slice of peperoni.

I did dwell for quite a long time on the sort of clothes I'd be limited to wearing. I mean, Barbie has quite a good selection to choose from, and the dolls these days are very fashionable indeed but how about underwear? I've not yet seen any slinky lingerie for Barbie (though I have to say that I've never really looked). Plus I think I'd get really tired of plastic shoes. And I can't even contemplate how much scarier spiders would be...

Reality Check

My world was shattered this morning when I found out that I am, in fact, only 5ft 2 inches tall when I had always told everyone (and thought) that I was 5ft 3.5 inches tall.

So I am off this lunchtime to buy some killer 4inch heels to make up for it.

Monkey see, monkey do

I love the feeling of rediscovery.
It's not the startling surprise of discovering something new, but rather a very pleasant feeling that sits somewhere in between deja-vous and the feeling when you see and recognise an old friend. Not sure if that entirely makes sense.

The context here is a book that I bought last week, Non-Fiction by Chuck Pulahniuk. Yes, the guy who wrote Fight Club. Creative genius, and storyteller of eyebrow lifting proportions. Except in this book, the stories are real.

I often think that I should have been a psychologist. Or at the very least, studied psychology. I am fascinated by the way that people think and act. I am an observer by nature and will happily just listen to words forming sentences forming conversation. It's pure music. With some people, the words gush at a constant rate and then pause, as if to catch up. With some people, the words accelerate until they reach a climax, which can sometimes lead into a dramatic pause and finale, or just stop dead. Someone I met recently, their words remind me of a fish, darting in and out of the anemone, intermittent pauses for breath before flitting off again.
I'm digressing a little but no matter. The point is, I discovered once that I loved this writer's imagination, and now, I love even more his way of thinking.

Remember, NEVER GET A CHIHUAHUA.

And today's word is..

I learnt a new word today.

Numpty
Scottish usage:
a) Someone who (sometimes unwittingly) by speech or action demonstrates a lack of knowledge or misconception of a particular subject or situation to the amusement of others.
b) A good humoured admonition, a term of endearment
c) A reckless, absent minded or unwise person

a) "No. That wisnae wit she meant, ya big numpty!"
b) i.e. "Silly billy", "You big dafty"
c) "That numpty's driving with no lights on!"

I'm not sure how I'm going to manage to fit this into the conversation but what a great word!
I can think of a fair number of people who might classify as one :)
Just got to practise my scottish accent....

Thursday night in

I don't remember the last time I was in on a Thursday evening. It's nice :)

Today I wish that I was somebody else just for the day. I'd even settle for being able to look through someone's eyes like in Being John Malkovich. Sometimes I feel very tired of being me.
Wouldn't it be great if I could wake up every morning and choose the person I wanted to be? Someone different every day.

I suppose that if I 'forgot' everything that happens the day before then that effectively gives me that option. Sounds like the plot of a film ;)