What I Did On My Staycation - Part II

Wednesday

The heavy rain that greeted me first thing in the morning made me exceedingly glad that I'd braved the windstorm to visit Stanley Park while the sun was still out the day before. However, an hour or two later the bus driver greeted me with a cheery "did you bring the sunshine with you?", and by the time we reached my stop (in the scary heart of the Downtown Eastside) the glare of bright winter sun off the wet streets was almost blinding.

My destination was the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden,  a delightful oasis in the middle of downtown, which I'd never visited before.

East meets West

I took KJHaxton's advice and arrived just in time for the guided tour. There were only four of us there - me, a woman from New Zealand, and a couple from Italy. The Italians seemed to have difficulty understanding our guide's accent, and soon started talking quietly to each other in Italian, which was a bit annoying, even though the first part of the tour wasn't exactly stellar. Our guide carried a folder containing various printouts (some from Wikipedia) in plastic protector pockets, and rifled through it at an alarming rate, showing us each picture as he got to the corresponding part of the talk. He spent more time telling us about the high speed train network in China, and how we should visit China just to take the train, than about the garden itself - and I started to wonder if he was on commission.

However, things quickly improved as we finally moved out of the entrance hallway and into the garden itself. It really is lovely, and it was great to hear about the reasons for each design feature (it's all about contrasts).

Contrast between square and circle

 

 The pool was made deliberately cloudy, to create better reflections

After the official tour we warmed up with tea and dodgy calligraphy, and then I (and the Kiwi and one of the Italian guys) continued to wander around the garden, chatting quietly (I provided them with several suggestions for their remaining days in Vancouver!) It was so peaceful, a great change of pace from city life. Definitely recommended!

I wandered into the main downtown core, had a late lunch at Trees cafe (site of one of my worst first (or indeed any) dates of all time, but I hold no grudges), tried on (but didn't buy) a couple of pairs of shoes, then SkyTrained out to Burnaby to meet Mr E Man at our friends' house for the 4pm Canucks game.

Thursday

Another day, another attraction I'd never visited before - hell, let's make it two attractions I'd never visited before!

This time, cycling was the wrong decision - the heavens opened about five minutes after I left home, and I was drenched and freezing before I'd even made it onto the sea wall. I turned left this time, rather than right, and pedalled as fast as my frozen, wet legs would take me along the southern edge of False Creek. The foul weather was mitigated somewhat by the opportunity to be the only person on the stretch of path that goes through the shiny new Olympic village development (it was too cold to stop and take photos, sorry), but only a little bit.

I paused to cast a lingering, longing look at the lovely warm Granville Island public market, but kept going, and was soon locking up my bike outside the Vancouver Maritime Museum.

This wasn't part of my original staycation plan, but I'd spotted a Groupon a couple of weeks earlier, and thought why not? I love boats, having been brought up watching old naval battle movies with my Mum, and the museum has a great one as its centrepiece. The St. Roch was an RCMP supply ship that was the first to sail the Northwest Passage from west to east (second overall), and the first to completely circumnavigate North America (see, I was paying attention!) I love stories of polar exploration just as much as I love boats, so I greatly enjoyed the video about the boat's voyages and especially the chance to get on board, poking around the crew quarters and climbing ladders all over the place.

 

View from the bridge of the St. Roch. Note mangy stuffed walrus on the starboard deck. The stuffed huskies  (out of shot) were also rather tatty.

The boat exhibit was very well done, but I have to admit that the other display cases didn't do much for me at all - lots of models of old steam ships, that kind of thing. The museum was definitely worth visiting at the reduced Groupon rate, but I'm not sure I'd have felt the same way if I'd paid full price!

I thought again about heading straight for the cozy warmth of Granville Island, but decided to persevere with my cultural education and head to the adjacent Museum of Vancouver instead. Mr E Man and at least one other long-time Vancouver resident claimed to have never heard of the place, but I can confirm that it does indeed exist (tucked away in Vanier Park, in the same building as the Space Centre / Planetarium), and has a rather fetching crab sculpture outside:

 

That's a fountain, not the prevailing weather conditions, although admittedly it was hard to tell the difference

I was really, really cold at this point, and didn't want to stay too long, but I really liked the museum. The rotating exhibit was on local food production (backyard veggie gardens, beehives and chicken coops), which was quite interesting, but I liked the permanent exhibits much better. They had photos from when the site of the Marine Building downtown was literally an old growth forest, and then more photos, videos, and artifacts from that period right up to the 1970s, which was exceedingly cool (there aren't many cities with a full photographic record of their development from trees to skyscrapers!) I particularly enjoyed the wobbly film taken from the back of one of the old street cars - oh how I wish we still had them!

The exhibits were pretty comprehensive, and didn't gloss over the terrible treatment of the city's First Nations, Chinese, and Japanese inhabitants over the years (there's more comprehensive coverage of the city's original First Nations inhabitants at the excellent Museum of Anthropology, which I'd been to several times before and so didn't visit on my staycation). Overall I thought it was very well done, and good value for money. I'll be back, some day when I'm not quite so cold and wet!

 Britain AND Scotland???!!! I don't see that working...

Onwards (in the still-pouring rain) to Granville Island, where I treated myself to fish and chips and a hot cup of tea and felt sooooo much better. I picked up more dinner ingredients before hauling my poor self through the pelting rain and up the steep hills to home, which is where the heart bathtub is.

For dinner, I roasted a Cornish game hen with fingerling potatoes, some adorable mini squash, and the rest of the asparagus and red pepper. We had some lovely olive bread with it, and some yumtastic chocolate brownies afterwards, as we watched the snow start to fall.

If I could shop at Granville Island every day, I'd cook more often, eat more healthily, and be completely broke.

Friday

I decided I'd had enough culture for one week, and went shopping instead. I trawled all my favourite vintage stores on Main Street, and although I didn't find the perfect burgundy leather jacket that I've had in my mind's eye for a couple of years now, I did manage to find a funky sweater and two very nice, very gently used winter coats (one grey, one tweedy one that I can actually wear with brown pants without looking like an eejit) for a combined total of $82. I suspect the grey one might actually be a guy's jacket, despite being bought from a women's clothing store (the shoulders are ever so slightly boxier, and the arms are ever so slightly longer, than usual, and the buttons are on the wrong side), but hey, it looks good on me IMNSHO and it cost $35, so who cares.

I met up with Mr E Man halfway through the day for a tasty lunch at one of our favourite restaurants, The Reef, and then again in the late afternoon for tea and cake at The Grind. I love this place - the front part is just your average coffee shop, but the back room is a cozy haven full of mismatched schoolroom-type furniture and is a great place to hang out and read or write. Before Mr E Man arrived I wrote a proper letter to my sister (who STILL doesn't have internet at her apartment in London, where she's been for over a year now. I am Not Impressed), but didn't manage any other writing.

In fact, not doing much writing was an ongoing theme of my staycation, and the only disappointment (I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of it and have considered starting to play the lottery so I can bum around parks and museums and coffee shops and watch early east coast hockey games all the time). This was mostly because of Mr E Man unexpectedly being off work - I left home later each day, and came home earlier, than I would have if he was working his usual 11-12 hour days, leaving less time for writing between my visits to all the galleries, parks, and museums. I really enjoyed what little writing I did do, and I'd like to build more writing time into my regular schedule. If I'm home with Mr E Man I tend to get distracted by conversations, TV, the internet, and our traditional long Scrabble and card games, so I think I need to set aside some designated time each weekend (or maybe on the occasional work day lunchtime) to leave the house and go and write somewhere else. I think I made enough of a start on a couple of projects to get me over that initial hump and keep me working on them... time will tell!

Overall, I highly recommend a staycation. Especially if it's in Vancouver, which (as I said in my last post) I have fallen in love with all over again. It was so relaxing, and so much cheaper (and more eco-friendly - I went everywhere by bike or public transit) than any other vacation I've ever taken! I wanted a second week, to do more writing and exercise than I managed to fit into my busy sight-seeing schedule, but it was not to be, and it's back to waking up in the dark and braving the snow and ice on my way in to work.

I do enjoy my job (mostly), but, well, it aint no staycation.

The hills are alive...

...with the sound of cow bells

Or at least, they were. The cow bells are silent now. Yup, the Paralympics are over, and the last few days have felt very flat and empty. It is so, so sad to cycle past City Hall and see the empty poles from which the Olympic and Paralympic flags have flown so proudly for the last four years.

But on Saturday, I managed to get to one last event before the end! And thanks largely to Mermaid's fabulous guest post about the ski jump and luge events she attended during the Olympics, I was adamant that my last event should be in Whistler. My friend and I originally had tickets for the super G slalom - men's and women's standing class, but they had to rejig the schedule based on the latest weather forecasts. Our tickets changed from the original event to slalom - men's and women's standing class, and finally to the super combined (super G + slalom) - men's and women's standing, sitting, and visually impaired classes. We were extremely happy with the change; as you'll see from the video below, our day was defined by variety!

As if Alpine skiing wasn't dangerous enough...

We had an absolutely fantastic day in the warm Whistler sunshine, and think our husbands were fools to go skiing instead, despite their enthusing about the "EPIC!!!" conditions*. And we saw Canada win a bronze, a silver, and a GOLD!!!** The latter was the fifth gold medal of the games won by my new hero, Lauren Woolstencroft. I have nothing bur respect for every Paralympian, but Lauren Woolstencroft stands out even in this exalted company. She was born with no legs below the knee, and no left arm below the elbow, and competes in the standing class, along with every other sighted Paralympian who skis in the standing position. And she doesn't just win, she totally obliterates the field. She ended up winning the event we saw by 12 seconds. 12!!! That just isn't supposed to happen!

I sang the Canadian anthem at her ceremony with more pride than ever before.

I may have cried.

Anyway, here's the video. Sorry for the fuzzy bits; the bright sunshine and glare from the snow were not very kind to my poor little Flip Video.



--------

*we planned to join them on the Sunday, but it was raining on the bottom half of the mountain, and all the lifts above freezing level were closed due to high winds. They did open later, but the price of a half-day pass is almost the same as a full day, and it just didn't seem worth it. This is the first time I've ever been to Whistler during the winter or spring and not skied, but it was totally worth it for the once-in-a-lifetime experience of going to the Paralympics.

**you'll notice that all three of our medals were won by women. This was a recurring theme of the Olympics and Paralympics, with women accounting for a majority of our medals in both tournaments, but especially in the Paralympics. Canadian women KICK ASS!

Look at me, I'm Sarah Palin!

(Pose just for photo, Mr E Man did all the driving)

I am a very clumsy person, as you will see in the video below. I'm also a terrible coward.

Well, physically, anyway.

Move thousands of miles away from home to a city where you don't know a single person? No problem! Change career twice in as many years? Bring it on!

But subject me to any combination of downhill slope, speed, and slipperiness, and I'm a mess. I somehow manage to ski (really quite badly, as you'll see in a future post), but I don't know how, because I don't even like walking downhill when it's a bit frosty.

So, when I decided to buy Mr E Man a snowmobile tour at Sun Peaks for Christmas, I booked it for just him. I told him that I could add a passenger of his choice to the trip at any time up to 2 hours before the tour started, but he should be warned that if he took me, there was a good chance he'd get seriously frustrated by me shouting "slow down!" the whole time.

He wanted me to go anyway. "It's my Christmas present, and I want you to come", he said. It won't be as much fun without you. They probably won't let us go all that fast anyway". All that. So I abandoned any thoughts of spending the afternoon trying out the snowshoes that he bought me for Christmas, and decided to try this snowmobiling lark instead.

I quickly found that snowmobiling and me are not a good mix. Too fast, too bumpy; I had a nice comfy seat with a back rest and everything, but I didn't spend much time on it as I got bounced up and down and struggled with all my strength to keep hold of the handles down by my hips. And the engine was far too loud and our helmets were too well padded for Mr E Man to hear my shouts of "aarrgghh!", "noooooo", "I don't like it", "ow, my arms really really hurt" and "slow the fuck down, you fucking maniac!"

Things did get better when we got off the main bumpy track and into some fresher, deeper snow. It really was beautiful as we proceeded more slowly on winding tracks through the snow-covered trees. But oy, the noise! I kept thinking how much nicer it would be to see this same view silently, while on snowshoes, or cross country skis.

But of course, the main advantage of snowmobiling is that you can get much further and higher than when self-propelled. After another too-fast-too-bumpy spell on a logging road, we ended up at a viewpoint looking down on a cloudy Shuswap lake at sunset. The snow was so deep I couldn't even walk in it;



and we did indeed have to dig the sled out when we restarted.

The beautiful view started to win me over, and I pondered that snowmobiling might not be so evil after all.

Not evil

Not evil

Fucking maniac speed demon, but not evil

By the time we started the downhill section of our loop, I was getting a bit more used to the bouncing and the speed, and it really was pretty cool to see the convoy of headlights snaking in and out of the trees as the light began to fade. We stopped at a warming hut as the stars started to come out, and being pretty toasty already I walked alone through the trees and onto a frozen lake. The photos didn't come out, but take my word for it that it was stunningly beautiful.

And, of course, the silence was golden.

I did end up enjoying myself. And we only fell off twice, both times at low speed (once on a turn in deep snow, and the other while stopping at the viewpoint). But I don't think I'd go snowmobiling again. Mr E Man had tons of fun though, and didn't stop grinning for at least an hour afterwards.

Me? Well, I recovered tolerably after a little help.

My biceps, shoulders and wrists hurt for days, though.

Very Important Submission update

It has been submitted!

This was a Very Important accomplishment.

Luckily I don't seem to be in any trouble (working until 8.30 pm on Monday to get the files uploaded seemed to help).

Conversations with my boss went as follows (with some paraphrasing):

Monday morning:

(Boss comes out of his office chatting to colleague about Very Important Submission)

Boss: "...so we'll just adjust that last figure, and upload the files. Then we can all come and watch Cath hit the "Submit" button - for the SECOND time."
Me: (facepalm)
Boss and colleague: (snigger snigger)

Monday afternoon:

(Boss hands me a USB key with the final files on it)

Boss: "Please can you upload these files? I'll approve and submit"
Me: "Oh, good, because I'm too scared to touch the damn thing again"
(Boss laughs)
Me: "I'm really sorry about the whole thing, I was completely freaking out when it happened"
Boss: "Yeah, you freaked me out too. But it all worked out"
Me: "Yeah... I printed this poster off the BBC website on Wednesday"
Boss: "I think I need one of those too"

Thank you everybody for your (mostly) supportive comments!!!

And, for no particular reason other than "doesn't this look a bit like the Union flag?", here's a photo of some melting snow on my friend's truck yesterday. With added essence of finger at the top.

Cath's shoe of the week

You can keep your Randy Macaques or whatever they're called, this was the only shoe (or shoe combo, really) for me today:

My trusty 11 year-old leather hiking boots, and rented snow shoes. Stylin'.

In addition, you can keep your sodding Superbowl, this is the best way to spend a snowy afternoon in Vancouver:

My two lovely friends enjoying similarly awesome footwear at Cypress Mountain while our husbands watched the game, the poor sad fools.

Vancouver 2010: new events announced

Non-Canadians are probably not yet aware of an initiative known as "Own the Podium 2010". The idea is to develop and support Canadian talent in the run-up to the upcoming Vancouver-Whistler Winter Games; the ultimate goal, of course, is for Canada to top the medals table, and also place within the top three nations (based on number of gold medals) in the Paralympics.

The other part of the plan has been less well publicised.

In order to improve the odds of a first-ever Canadian gold medal on home soil, and boost waning local support for the games, the organisers are planning to introduce a number of new winter sports. These events have been specially designed to give Vancouverites an advantage over their competitors:

- The "I Don't Need Snow Tyres, This Is Vancouver, and Anyway I'm a Really Good Driver" Giant Slalom (Motorised) event will take place down Fraser and other main city streets.

- The "Oh Shit" Freestyle Aerials (Bicycle) competition will be held wherever the combination of steep hills and new pot holes affords optimal air for commuters on hybrid bikes. Conditions change daily; check back regularly for updates.

- Similarly, the Short and Long Track "Walking Through Ice and Slush Without Falling On Your Arse" race routes will be decided after Games staff have assessed the city's side streets for the longest and steepest sections of treacherous sidewalk.

- The "Riding the Bus That is Crammed Full of People Who Usually Drive and Do Not Understand Bus Etiquette" Endurance Event preliminary rounds will be held, oh, everywhere. Survivors finalists will compete on the 99 B-Line down Broadway during rush hour.

- Unfortunately however, the "Sod It" Snow Shovelling (Sidewalks) event has been cancelled due to lack of interest.

My training is going well, and I expect at least a bronze in two of the above events.

2009 sucks

So far this year, and in no particular order:

• My mother-in-law slipped on some ice and broke her arm - both bones, just above the wrist. She didn't need any surgery, and seems in good spirits, but 2 months in a cast might change that. One of her sons is with her right now, another is going at the weekend, and we'll probably go up the weekend after that.

• My brother-in-law's apartment flooded when a pipe burst in the apartment above him. So he, his two kids, and his puppy are homeless for a month while everything is fixed. Luckily his insurance covers everything, including temporary accommodation.

• A good friend is reluctantly leaving Vancouver and going back to the UK, largely because of the lack of affordable day care. This is the second good friend I've lost for the same reason in a 6 month period, and I'm thinking of opening my own day care so my remaining friends will stay here.

• The awesome tenant in our basement suite is thinking of moving to the US in the spring to join her boyfriend. As Mr E Man said, "make him come here! We'll never find another tenant who'll look after our cats and give us home-made butter tarts with the rent money!"

• The state of the roads means I won't be able to cycle until next week at the earliest, and then only on the main roads - it could take weeks to clear the side streets. Until then I'm stuck taking the fucking bus, which I hate. Yeah, I know things are much worse in Edmonton / Toronto / Wherever, but that's part of the reason I didn't want to live there and chose to move to Vancouver instead!

• The oh-so-pretty lattice work arch over our gate, that the purple clematis climbs over in summer, collapsed under the weight of the snow and is now lying sadly in a 3-foot snow drift in the garden.
  

• Several other friends are either sick or having various personal crises.

Seriously, I think I'd like to skip 2009 and go straight to 2010.

Snowed under...

I'm back! Ever so slightly hungover, but the jet lag has gone. Staying out until after 2 am on our first full day back seemed to reset my system.

This is what happens when you leave your car outside for two weeks during record snow falls... this is NOT normal weather for Vancouver! And it's still snowing!

I hope everyone had an excellent Christmas or other festive break. Our first week in the UK was awesome, but unfortunately the second week was spoiled by a 24-hour norovirus that my sister brought with her from London and that swept through the entire family. It hit me next, at about 11.30 pm on Christmas Eve, so I was the only one to miss Christmas dinner. I did get to open my two stockings though - chocolate, fruit, chocolate, whiskey, more chocolate... just what I needed! Mr E Man and my Dad went down next, and my Mum was just getting over it as we left. Lovely.

Still, at least I lost some weight over Christmas, for the first time in my life...

So, back to reality - I worked from home yesterday, and am due back in the office tomorrow. As usual when coming home from a trip, I'm feeling a bit snowed under with laundry, other household chores, work stuff, and an avalanche of blog posts - I'll get to them soon, I promise!

Like Mr E Man, I need to start digging out. If only it would stop fucking snowing...

Happy New Year, everyone!

My eyes, my eyes!

Call the grammar police!

A potentially very awesome email just got ruined for me. Let's dissect this marketing FAIL!

Subject: "Whistler: over 40cm of new snow and more on the way"

So far so good. I am interested to learn more about this marketing message and will duly open your email.

Photo at top of message:

Cath says: "Sweeeeeeeeeet!"

I am glad I opened your email. This marketing message is relevant to my interests.

Next line:

"The snow has started to fly at Whistler Blackcomb with over 40 cm (16 inches) of snow has fallen this week and more is expected in the forecast. "

Erm... I believe the colloquial term is WTF, dude?

I am afraid that I did not read the rest of your message, which appeared to be an inducement to buy an accommodation package. Instead I raced to my humble weblog to encourage my readers to laugh at you. Please proof your marketing emails in the future to prevent a recurrence of this unfortunate situation.

Thank you.

----------------

It will soon be time to sharpen and wax my skis, and to start thinking about the first trip of the season. This is almost - but not quite - exciting enough to override my outraged sense of pedantry.

I'm sure I'll get over it. Quite possibly on my first ride up in the gondola.

Happy Friday everyone!

Cath and the City Part 2

The end of Part 1 saw me sitting on Jericho Beach and congratulating myself on fulfilling my dream of moving to Vancouver. Here's what happened next...

My first year in Vancouver was great. Hard at times, but great. I was lucky enough to be part of a very social lab in a very social department, and I found myself with an awesome group of friends who all lived close together in a part of town called Kitsilano. This was lucky because it can be pretty tough to meet people in this city, and I did spend quite a lot of time alone in my first year. I usually have more random conversations with strangers in shops, bars and on buses in my 2 week trips back to the UK than I do in a typical year here. So much for British reserve!

Living in Kits was like being on vacation the whole time. It's a bit twee, but there are great shops, cafes and bars, not to mention the beach. The World Cup was on in Japan that summer, and I would get up ridiculously early to watch the games on TV, then head to the beach at about 6.30 am. There's nothing quite like sitting on a log on the beach on a crisp sunny morning and watching the city come to life.

I took up kayaking, taking a weekend course on the first available date and then joining a club who went out every Monday evening over the summer. (This is the source of the photo above, which I liked so much when I posted it last time that I decided to make it a permanent feature). I went on my first kayak camping trip (more on that subject in a future post), went on some hikes, explored the city by bike, started to learn to ski, and generally enjoyed myself and saw as much as possible, in the way you do when you think you're only going to be in a city for two years.

There's nothing like a morning cuppa on the beach before a long day of paddling. I'm not going to tell you where this photo was taken because the campsite is already way too overcrowded on weekends! We try to make this trip an annual event, and we had the whole place to ourselves on a midweek trip one May.

I met Mr E Man almost exactly a year after I arrived. It quickly became obvious that I was going to be staying for a lot longer than two years.

Living permanently in a city gives you an entirely different perspective on things. There's no longer that mad dash to tick off every trip on your wish list. I also got to know a huge group of friends who all grew up here and who know the city in a completely different way. I eventually moved in with Mr E Man¹ and got to know a completely different area of the city. Commercial Drive is a seriously funky place, but introduced me to a whole other side of Vancouver. We had a choice of several excellent bars and restaurants within a two block radius, but would often open our front door to find someone sleeping on the front step. We'd hang out on some great neighbourhood patios, but be badgered for money by passing street people. We saw drug deals on a regular basis and were frequently woken by loud drunken yelling and unmuffled motorbikes on weekends.

See, that's the thing. This is a port city, and also the only place in Canada where you can sleep outside all year long without freezing to death. Everyone gravitates here. There are parts of town that are worse than anywhere I've ever seen. The number of people with mental health problems and / or addiction issues who live in the Downtown Eastside, on and off the streets, is simply staggering. The more I live here, the more I appreciate that this is not a paradise for everyone.

And while we're talking about the city's downsides, I have to mention the rampant NIMBYism (Olympics? No! Rapid transit expansion? No!) and, of course, the rain. It rains a LOT here in the winter. The summers are great, but avoid November-April if you don't want to get wet. This last year was especially miserable; everyone was complaining about how dark and murky it was. Being a skier helps - if it's raining in town it's probably snowing on the mountains - but we can't afford to go skiing often enough to mitigate the gloominess.

But hey, the summers are great, and we'll hopefully be spared the worst of the predicted future water shortages. I just hope the American army is nice to us when they invade looking for water in 30 years or so ;-)

I've put down roots here now. We bought a house - not a very good house, but it's a start - and I am still in love with Vancouver. When I first moved here I'd have what I call "Vancouver Moments" - when I would catch a glimpse of the mountains or the water and think "I am so glad I live here". They're not quite as common now, but I still have my VMs. Especially on the first clear day after the onset of the nasty winter rain, when the mountains come into view from behind the clouds and reveal their fresh snowy caps.

View from our living room window. Part of the delay in writing this second post was due to the wait for clear weather at the right time of day - necessary for this photo! When we looked around the house, the previous owners stressed the mountain view and we scoffed about it in the car on the way home. "Call that a mountain view?! You can only see part of Seymour Mountain, and nothing of Cypress or Grouse!". Of course, now that we own the place, we tell everyone we have a mountain view.

The last couple of summers have been busy beyond all belief. We bought a house in 2006 and got married in 2007, and we spent more time with realtors, mortgage brokers, caterers and florists than with our friends. I only went camping and kayaking (on separate occasions) once each last year, and we never seemed to have any money. Now that the madness is over, I can't wait to start really enjoying the city and its surroundings again. The sunshine is back, camping trips are planned, and we're going for our first paddle of the year later today. Just a 2 hour cruise along Jericho beach with our out-of-town guests, but hopefully the start of a good season.

I look forward to seeing the city through our visitors' eyes; it's good to be reminded of how my time in Vancouver began.

¹He broke his leg and was powerless to stop me. I moved in to help him with his cooking and laundry while he was in his cast, and never left.

Nooooooo!

There's fucking snow forecast for tomorrow.

Sorry for the bad language, but last weekend was glorious and we're supposed to be going to a BBQ.

Bah humbug.

Am I a walking stereotype?

I came across an interesting site recently. It's called "Stuff White People Like" and, well, it's a list of things that white people are supposed to all be into.

There are several different ways to approach such a list, many of them resulting in indignant offense. I think, though, that the blog is meant to be approached as observational comedy, and with that in mind it's very entertaining (and sometimes cringeworthy) reading.

One thing I noticed is that the site is written from a very specific angle - that of a white North American male. The list is therefore an interesting mix of racial, cultural and gender-based stereotypes. But is it accurate? I am the daughter of the Whitest Man in England^TM, so let's give it a shot and see how many of the items on the list I can relate to.

I've colour coded the list - green for yes, red for no, blue for partial credit, and black when I got confused.

Coffee

Coffee makes me way too jittery. I drink the occasional decaf, but I'm really more of a tea drinker.

Religions their parents don't belong to

Atheism is not a religion, so I'm claiming a no.

Film Festivals

I've been to the occasional festival screening, but not for years and I'm much more likely to watch a DVD than go to the cinema anyway.

Assists

Alien concept in European sports, in which assists are not tracked unless you play in some kind of fantasy league. Which I don't. I do like hockey, but don't care about stats. Just results. (Not too many of those in Vancouver at the moment).

Farmers' Markets

Love the idea, don't go as often as I would like, which is something I plan to change this summer.

Organic Food

Ditto.

Diversity

Yes. Homogeneity is boring, and I should know! I went to a school of about 1500 students, of whom around 1496 were white.

Barack Obama

Yes we can.

Making you feel bad about not going outside

Lots of Vancouverites are very outdoorsy and will make you feel like shite if you didn't spend the weekend fending off bears and cougars. I am outdoorsy-lite. I do like skiing, kayaking and camping, but I enjoy lots of other things too and besides, I'm too lazy to get out there very often. So I will never ever rip on someone who'd rather stay in the city at the weekend.

Wes Anderson movies

Yup. Just watched the Darjeeling Limited. Not as good as the others, but I still enjoyed it!

Asian girls
I think this might be one for the boys.

Non-profit organisations

Work for one, volunteer for a couple more!

Tea

Ooh yes please. Don't forget to warm the pot and put the milk in the cup before the tea. My home and office tea stashes are the stuff of legend and I have my own kettle on my desk at work. I am English after all.

Having black friends

I love having friends, period. I've never had the opportunity to have black friends (in real life anyway, I have no idea about the ethnicity of most of my blog buddies), having lived in predominantly white and / or Asian areas my whole life. But my friends do reflect the ethnic make-ups of the places I've lived in. I guess this is a partial...?!

Yoga

Loved it when I did it, haven't done it for years. Planning to start again.

Gifted children

Don't know really, I don't have kids and don't plan to have any, so I don't really have an opinion on gifted children programmes, having never encountered one in the UK.

Hating their parents

I have some issues with my parents (doesn't everyone?), but nothing major and I certainly don't hate them.

Awareness

I'm more into direct fundraising and research than awareness.

Travelling

I like going abroad, but I'm not a hard-core traveller. I've done my fair share of backpacking around Europe and North America, and I have a long list of wish-list destinations, but you're more likely to find me hanging out in Prague or Madrid than seeking enlightenment in Tibet.

Being an expert in YOUR culture

Not unless YOU are British or Canadian, which doesn't seem to be the point of this entry!

Writers' workshops

I've never done one, but it does actually sound like something I'd enjoy.

Having two last names

Nope. I changed my name when I got married and never even considered hyphenating. (Dunn is a very difficult name to hyphenate anyway - it sounds dodgy whether you put it first or last).

Microbreweries

Yesh, what'sh yer point? *hic*

Wine

Ditto, but I'm not too snobby about it. I'm still a student at heart, I'll drink anything if it's free...

David Sedaris

Yep, he's represented in my book case.

Manhattan (now Brooklyn too!)

Fun for a few days, but NYC scares the bejebus out of me and I always come back completely exhausted.

Marathons

Dear god no. Running was considered a punishment for misbehaviour at my school, and I've never seen a reason to change that mindset. I only run if chasing (e.g. a football) or being chased (e.g. someone who wants to tickle my feet).

Not having a TV

Yeah right. I LOVE my TV. I would never have made it through my PhD without Friends and the Simpsons.

80s night

I went to many an 80s night in University. Hopefully the photos have been destroyed.

Wrigley Field
Huh? (Another one for the white American male).

Snowboarding

Skis all the way, baby. I tried snowboarding once and couldn't even stand up. It's not natural to not be able to move your feet independently of each other.

Vegan/vegetarianism

I like it in principle, just not enough to, y'know, actually do it or anything. I have cut down on my red meat intake and started to cook more meat-free meals though.

Marijuana
Um, no officer, never ever ever. (OK, maybe once or twice a year. Fun while kayaking).

Architecture

I know what I like, but I don't really know the first thing about it.

The Daily Show / Colbert Report

I wasn't too keen on the Colbert Report when it first started, but now it's actually my favourite of the two. There's hope for America yet ;)

Breakfast Places

Ooh yeah. My favourites being the Cuban place near our old apartment and the Caribbean place near our house. A regular feature of our weekends.

Renovations

It's coming... at the moment we're just constantly patching up the raccoon-inflicted damage to our roof.

Arrested Development

...was indeed awesome. Sadly missed.

Netflix

Who what? This is something to do with movie downloads, right?

Apple Products

I don't own a single one. I went for a Sony MP3 player just to be different (it's crap, but Mr E Man likes his higher-end Sony), and I almost, but not quite, went for the Mac instead of the PC last year. So this No is really a Not Yet, Maybe When This One Dies.

Indie Music
Of the British variety, yes. I'm a wee bit out of date these days though.

Sushi

It's a Sunday night fixture at our place! Japanese tourists apparently rave about the quality and price of Vancouver's sushi. Yum.

Plays

Meh, I can take them or leave them. I usually go if invited, but I never instigate a trip to the theatre (the one exception was when I won some tickets to the Reduced Shakespeare Company, which was fun). I prefer opera actually, if I can say that without sounding too, well, white or anything!

Public Radio

No, unless you count BBC radio when I'm in the UK, but the context is very different to that of public radio in the US.

Asian Fusion Food

Probably. I'm not sure if I've ever had it, but I do like most Asian food.

The Sunday New York Times

Our local paper runs the Sunday New York Times crossword on Saturdays, which we do religiously, but that's the only part of it I've ever read.

Arts Degrees

BSc Genetics, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1998.
The site says, "But what about the white people who study Science, Engineering or Business? Unless they become doctors, they essentially lose white person status (and can only be regained by working at a non-profit)".
So that's OK then.

Whole Foods and Grocery Co-ops

Only when I'm not being lazy and going to Safeway, or virtuous and going to farmers' markets.

Vintage

Not so much any more, although there is a genuine 1960s top lurking at the back of my closet. I bought it for a themed band concert in high school and couldn't bear to throw it away.

Irony

Yup.
Best definition ever: Mr E Man was hanging out with some drunk British girls in Mexico (before he met me I hasten to add) and they accused all North Americans of not understanding irony.
Mr E Man: "Gee, you're right, I've never really understood the concept. Please could you explain it to me?"
Drunk Brit: "Well, it's sarcasm"
MEM: "No, it's not the same thing"
DB: "Yes it is"
MEM: "No, they're different"
DB: "Well what's the difference?"
MEM: "Sarcasm was me pretending not to know what irony is. Irony is you actually not knowing what irony is".

Living by the water

Sounds great, doesn't it? Why is this A White Thing?

Sarah Silverman

She's pretty damn funny all right.

Dogs

Who's a good boy? I will have a dog one day. When I'm working from home or something. In the mean time, the adoption of a cat has been successfully negotiated and the search will begin after Easter. Photos will be posted when available.

Kitchen gadgets

Come to momma. Populating the registry was my favourite part of the whole wedding planning thing (I didn't get to sample caterers' goods, Mr E Man did that part).

Apologies

I'm English. And I live in Canada. Apologising is a way of life.

Lawyers

WTF? No. Unless they happen to be my brother-in-law and work for the UN.

Juno

Haven't seen it yet.

Japan

Erm, I like sushi... Actually I would quite like to visit rural Japan, but it's not all that high on my list. Maybe I can get sent to a conference or something.

Natural Medicine

No, I'm a scientist. Besides, whoever developed Ibuprofen made those days bearable. Before that I was incapacitated, curled up on the sofa with a hot water bottle and moaning softly, for at least 2 days each month. Big Pharma is OK by me.

Toyota Prius

They are soooo cool. A lot of Vancouver taxis are switching to hybrids, and all the drivers I've talked to just love them. Mr E Man's car is only 6 years old and still running well, but when it's been run into the ground we're definitely going to get a hybrid, or whatever greener technology is best at that time.

Bicycles

Extensively documented on this blog!

Knowing what's best for poor people
Erm, a social welfare system? Is this another one with an American bias?

Expensive sandwiches

Yes, that would be my first choice on the days when I don't bring my own lunch.

Recycling

And composting too, for extra points no doubt.

Co-ed sports

I really, really suck at team sports. Drunken football or cricket on the beach is the only post-school exception to my self-imposed ban.

Divorce

Yikes, let's hope not!

Standing still at concerts

Not totally still. I sway a bit. But only if the band's good.

Michel Gondry
Who? (Seriously. No idea).

Mos Def
The only people to emerge from the Hitchhiker movie with any credit were Douglas Adams and Stephen Fry.

Difficult breakups

Oh yeah, I just loved those months of crying in the toilets at work and feeling like my personality had been removed and replaced with that of a complete stranger. Awesome.

Being the only white person around

It's certainly a rare and interesting experience for a girl from York!

Study abroad

I actually made a conscious decision not to move away from the UK, where an undergraduate degree takes 3 years and a PhD no more than 4. There's a whole other post in there somewhere.

Gentrification
It would be really really nice if this happened in our neighbourhood!

Oscar parties
I don't even watch the ceremony.

Threatening to move to Canada
I have no idea what colour this one should be - I mean, I did move to Canada, but not for the reasons implied by this entry. I just really really liked Vancouver.

Bottles of water
I do indeed have two Sigg metal bottles - one for work and one for the gym.

Musical comedy
When it's good, it's very very good!

Multilingual children
Again, no plans to have kids. But if I did they would definitely be bilingual. You can't get above a certain level in some careers here if you don't speak both official languages - e.g. the civil service, the military etc. Plus it opens up careers with the European Union, which requires at least 2 different languages in all employees. I'd be daft not to teach my kids French. Besides, both my parents are French teachers and they'd kill me if their grandchildren turned out unilingual.

Modern furniture
I'm a fan, Mr E Man is not. He's a carpenter and has very high standards - it took us forever to find an acceptable dining table. Other rooms are full of donated Ikea furniture. The house will probably be a mish-mash for many years to come.

The idea of soccer
I don't like the idea of soccer, I just love football (as I will always insist on calling it). I grew up watching it and will always be a fan. I think this is another North American idiosyncrasy.

Graduate school
Been there, done that, got the thesis. Not an arts degree though.

Hating corporations
Nope. Most of my wardrobe comes from the Gap, and I don't even have any serious beefs with Microsoft or Starbucks.

Bad memories of high school
I've got 'em. Do I like them? I guess it is a bonding opportunity when conversing with other geeks!

T-shirts
There's nothing I like more than freshly laundered dark denim jeans and a nice well-fitted long sleeved t-shirt.

The Wire
Not my cup of tea.

Shorts
Only for cycling in in summer.

Outdoor performance clothes
C'mon, this is Vancouver. It's practically compulsory to wear fleece and Gore-tex in the pub.

So how did I do?

43 Yes, 24 No, 13 Partial and 7 Don't Know / Not Applicable.

I would say that my nationality, education, gender and class influenced my answers more than my race. I really don't see why t-shirts and sushi are supposed to be "White Things". Maybe even the definition of a racial stereotype is different in different cultures? Would a white North American female see this list differently? How about a straight black male Canadian? Or a gay Asian-American man?

Anyway, the list makes me laugh and I'll continue to read it. Wearing a t-shirt. With a cup of tea in hand, Gomez playing in the background, and maybe even some sushi.

Sorry.

Photo as promised

Sun Peaks certainly lived up to its name while we were there!



That's hubby (or, as he shall be known from now on, Mr E Man - see what I did there?) on the far left, with his sister, and me on the far right, with her husband. The two wee boys are our nephews, who put everyone to shame (and terrified their mother) by going down double black diamond moguls with no fear, and the other guy is a friend who may or may not be able to provide me with video footage once he's found the right cable and done some editing.

I did not do the double black diamond moguls, but I did do my first ever black diamond - a short and relatively easy groomed run with 3 inches of good fresh snow on it. I didn't do it very well, gracefully or quickly, but I did it. Now I never have to do one again. If people start bugging me, I shall simply reply that of course I can do black diamond runs, I just choose not to. Then I can go zipping down some lovely cruisy bluesies.

Gone Skiing

Woo hoo!

Back next week

Laughing stock of Canada

It snowed here this week. Not the little one-day sprinkles that have been a recurring theme of this winter, but a good few inches.

This being Vancouver, a few inches were enough to bring the city to a halt. The weather as first item on the news and all that; the rest of Canada is no doubt laughing (politely) at us.

I get grumpy when I can't cycle and have to take the bus, especially as it takes much longer and requires me to deal with idiots (i.e. everybody else - I really don't handle our ridiculously overcrowded system very well. This antipathy doubles on snow days, when lots of people who usually drive decide to switch to the bus for the day. I haven't had a full-blown panic attack for a few years, but I can often feel one coming on when I'm jammed into someone's armpit, the bus is lurching to a halt twice on each block (once for the bus stop and once for the inevitably red light), yet more people are getting on, and there's a rugby scrum between me and the exit. Must. Remember. To Breathe. Deeply. On those days I tend to arrive at work in a foul mood that requires at least one cup of tea and a trauma cookie¹ before I'm back to my usual chipper self. Thank goodness for this week's discovery that a colleague lives close to me and can give me a ride on snow days).

Anyway. I digress. I was going to mention a sight that made me smile on the first day of snow on Tuesday. It united, in an eruption of laughing and pointing, the ever-growing crowd of disgruntled commuters / popsicles waiting at the connecting bus stop while several buses passed us by like creaking, groaning, lurching sardine tins on wheels.

We were first alerted by the strange noise. This was eventually localised to a car approaching on Broadway, a major 4-lane city street that was by this time covered in nothing worse than about an inch of very wet slush. The car had chains (yes, snow chains. On Broadway.) on its rear tires and was being driven extreeeeeemely carefully.

As the car approached the bus stop, it was passed by a cyclist² like it was standing still.

I bet you don't see that every day in Winnipeg.

¹term coined by a German friend from my old job who suggested that we all recover from the trauma of our flu shots by going for a cookie. The phrase is now applied to all cookies eaten after an unpleasant experience.

²daft bugger. No matter how much I hate the bus, you won't catch me cycling in snow and slush with the drivers we have around here.

p.s. medical mishaps and the effects of diet on gene expression on my Nature Network blog this week.

You have got to be kidding me

Having survived my first ski day of the year with nothing worse to report than sore muscles and a bent credit card*, I limped from my office up to the nearby mall to forage for food today.

They have Valentine's Day goods on display.

I prefer to take my celebrations one at a time, so have a very Happy Hogmanay wherever you may be! May your first-foot be tall, dark and handsome, or whichever combination you prefer.

*no matter which pocket I put something in for safe-keeping, I am guaranteed to fall on it. It could be worse, 2 years ago I broke my phone beyond all chance of repair.

End of the year meme

I came across a meme at Professorial Confessions and decided to tag myself 'cos it's a good one!

1. Will you be looking for a new job?

I very much hope not, because I've enjoyed my new job so far. However, not only is my job grant-funded but there's a 6-month probationary period in place!

2. Will you be looking for a new relationship?

Definitely not - we've only been married for 4 months!

3. New house?

Not unless ours unexpectedly falls down. We moved in 2006.

4. What will you do differently in 08?

Hopefully get less stressed by things that are out of my control.

5. New Years resolution?

Less stressing, less procrastination, more skiing, more kayaking.

6. What will you not be doing in 08?

Getting married or buying a house!

7. Any trips planned?

If I get my stolen permanent resident card replaced in time, we'll be going to visit my brother-in-law in Vietnam. If not, we'll content ourselves with beautiful BC on various skiing and ocean kayaking trips. Oh, and we'll be spending Christmas 2008 with my family in England.

8. Wedding plans?

Hell no. (See #2).

9. Major thing on your calendar?

There was enough of that in the last 2 years, thank you very much (see #2 & #3).

10. What can’t you wait for?

Fresh Whistler powder, baby. December 29th and / or 30th!

11. What would you like to see happen differently?

Everything is pretty damn good right now. I'd like Newcastle United to win something for the first time in my lifetime, but 2008 is probably much too early for that.

12. What about yourself will you be changing?

See #5 - especially the less procrastination thing.

13. What happened in 07 that you didn’t think would ever happen?

I did not cry at my own wedding, despite crying at everyone else's ever!

14. Will you be nicer to the people you care about?

I'm always nice to them, but I will do it more frequently. Specifically, I will be better at remembering birthdays in enough time to send a card over the Atlantic...

15. Will you dress differently this year than you did in 07?

I am already starting to slide back towards my pre-industry job dress code... However, after the big house and wedding expenses of the last two years, I will probably be able to buy some new clothes for a change.

16. Will you start or quit drinking?

I will stop drinking TUDs (totally unnecessary drinks) - you know, when you start another one even though everyone's already yawning and the evening will clearly be ending soon. The ultimate TUD is the tequila shooter you order after you've already called for a taxi, but I haven't gone to that extreme in quite a while.

17. Will you better your relationship with your family?

I need to work on my relationship with my Dad, although things are already better than they were.

18. Will you do charity work?

I'm more into sponsored one-off events to be honest. This year I did a 5 km walk for the MS Society of Canada. Next year I'm thinking of doing their 60 km bike ride, but I would need a wee bit of training for that.

19. Will you go to bars?

This is a very silly question. Of course I will.

20. Will you be nice to people you don’t know?

I'm nice to everyone (well, polite at the very least) unless and until they give me a reason not to be. (This does not apply on days when I have to take the bus).

21. Do you expect 08 to be a good year for you?

Yes. I'm pretty happy in most areas of my life, most of the time.

22. How much did you change from this time last year till now?

The biggest change is that I'm much happier with my job. I'm using my brain again, and the mental dullness inspired by the lack of intellectual stimulation in my last job is wearing off! (Hello, former colleagues! D and K and S and anyone else who reads this! Don't tell anyone important (i.e. that I might need a reference from in future) that I said this!)

23. Do you plan on having a child?

Hell no. We might get a cat though.

24. Will you still be friends with the same people you are friends with now?

Definitely, and I hope to add a few more as well. I don't understand people who say they have enough friends and don't need any more.

25. Major lifestyle changes?

None planned!

26. Will you be moving?

Hell no!

27. What will you make sure doesn’t happen in 08 that happened in 07?

No wedding stress. It's going to be fabulous.

28. What are your New Years Eve plans?

I'm working during the day, but we're hosting a party in the evening. We won't have to deal with transit / taxis this year, but we will have to deal with a bunch of hungover people on our sofa in the morning! There are nowhere near enough taxis in this city and I can guarantee that several people will get stranded.

29. Will you have someone to kiss at midnight?

Hubby! Hooray!

30. One wish for 08?

That I can spread my good moods to the people around me, and reverse my bad moods by sharing in their good ones!

Who to tag, who to tag...

Wayfarer Scientista

Mad Hatter

EcoGeoFemme

Propter Doc

Makita

Tyler DiPietro

Anyone else on my blogroll whose blog I read but don't know well enough to inflict a meme on!

Feeling the love

I love being a skier, because this and this make me feel better about this*.

I love my new bike.

I love David Attenborough. He's always been my hero! (via Pharyngula).

*This may not make sense, depending on your local date and time. Basically, snow in the mountains makes me feel better about rain in town. Even on long weekends.