Blighty

As usual, it's taken me a while to get round to writing this one up. If only I was willing to précis everything it might be easier, but goddamnit I always want to tell you everything.

So. At the end of August, Isaac & I flew to England for a two week holiday, cleverly planned around a) my sister Toni's wedding and b) my having a crown done. The former had been planned for some time of course, whereas the latter was something I had recently been trying to fit in and around the wedding, necessitating, as it does, two visits to the dentist with a gap in between. The crown was something that had needed doing for a while - I won't bore you with the story but I had one tooth that was, by now, merely a shell full of composite, and I was expecting every mouthful of every meal to 'do for it', as it were. The crown had been recommended before I went to New Zealand, but since I had neither the time nor the funds at that point, I had been babysitting it ever since. Dentistry is notoriously expensive in Canada (along with mobile phones; groceries; car insurance and every other sodding thing I have to buy) and the same crown would have cost me somewhere in the region of $3000 to have done here, whereas I paid 'just' £400 n the UK (around $650 CAD currently) so the saving was considerable.

We flew in to Gatwick to be met by my dad and we made a stop off at his allotment on the way home to pick up some beans, courgettes and a few cornflowers. In the coming days we managed to catch up with Sophie and Dan (for the first time since they officially became Mr & Mrs), have the obligatory Pizza Express (oh Lordy how I've missed you), go to the Wings & Wheels show at Dunsfold Park, which was AMAZING - see pics here - have a great lunch with Raquel, Darren and Aaron, and take a walk along the tow path next to the Thames from Kingston to Hampton Court, all in the glorious warm sunshine. Ha - take THAT, those who think it rains all the time in England.

On 31st August I went to the dentist in the morning to have my temporary crown fitted. At one point I swear the dentist had both hands and at least one of his feet in my mouth. Back home for Jacqui's homemade courgette soup (Isaac: 'I don't think I'll like that, I'm not a big fan of zucchini.' Me: 'Well just try a spoonful of mine and see what you think'. Cut to Isaac eating THREE bowls of the stuff) and then the train up to London. I told Isaac we were going to go to Harrods, which of course he'd never heard of. He kept saying 'Why are we going to a department store? I'm don't even like shopping that much.' I told him to wait and see, and of course when we got there, he saw exactly why. We had fun visually devouring the food halls and looked at all the expensive stuff we'll never be able to afford, like a £10,000 toy car and a £45,000 gun. Then we hopped on a bus up Piccadilly and went to the studios of Absolute Radio, where Geoff Lloyd had just started his show. I've been a huge Geoff Show fan for years so I decided to take him up on his oft quoted offer to 'just drop in and visit us if you're passing'.

We were welcomed to the studio by the security guard while I explained that we were just visiting. The moment I heard his voice I realised it was none other than Martin the Security Guard, regular contributor to the Geoff Show. I behaved like a proper fan and asked if I could get my photo taken with him. He was lovely, though shy, and complied, then got Nelson the producer to come down and take us up to the studio. Isaac had never been in a radio studio before and was struck dumb, so it was left to me to do all the talking for once. Shame. Geoff, Annabel and Nelson - my constant driving companions via podcast in Canada - were consummate hosts and we spent 2 hours watching them put the show together, which was delightful and exciting for me at least. I even contributed one sentence to the show: 'Yeah, me too, I get very confused'. We left when the show was almost over and took the bus up to Leon's at Ludgate Circus, the traditional get-together location for Guy, Chris, Debbie and I - Jonathan and Janet were unable to make it sadly - and we had a fab meal and it was all over too quickly as usual. That's the most frustrating thing about living abroad: when you do meet up with friends back home you have to squish a year's worth of friendship into a few short hours, and you always leave unsatisfied. Sigh.

The following morning we headed up to London again to take the train from Kings Cross up to Hull, where we were met by my sister Jenny. She was putting us up again, and had planned all sorts of exciting activities around Toni's wedding, on the Saturday. We had a grand day out at Flamingoland, where we rode every roller coaster including Mumbo Jumbo, the 'World's Steepest Roller Coaster', 112 degrees dontcha know, which we rode twice, and Kumali, which was our favourite and we rode three times. We visited the self-styled 'Strangest Place in the World' - the Forbidden Corner - which was indeed very strange and well worth the beautiful drive through the North Yorkshire countryside. We also had numerous delicious meals. More than that, I spent the entire week in hysterics - Jenny and I have always been able to reduce each other to a heap on the floor with little more than a well-timed glance. It was great to spend some time with her, her boyfriend (and Isaac's official English Dad) James, and my niece Mini-Me, oh sorry, Liddi, before she heads off for a few months travelling, starting in New Zealand the lucky beggar.

The wedding was the main focus for the holiday of course, and on the day, Jenny and I picked up the flowers and balloons (plain red hearts), dropped off the bridal bouquet and buttonholes, drove to the golf club where the reception was taking place and decorated all the tables. Then we drove back home where Toni was meeting us, and we all got ready in between eating smoked salmon and bagels, as is traditional. The wedding was lovely and no one fell over or shouted anything rude, which is always a relief. The reception was beautifully decorated *ahem*, and the playlist had been designed by my sister's new husband Rob before he even asked her out, or so he told us during his speech. That sounded sweet and romantic of course because they DID end up getting married but he was lucky - if she had never agreed to go out with him that might just sound like a stalker! Various people got rather drunk, others got rather drunker. Some very funny things happened, but most of them are best retold elsewhere, where one can do the accompanying funny voices and/or walks. Anyway, suffice to say, everyone had fun.

Eventually it was time to head back down to Surrey; train again. The dentist replaced my temporary crown with a proper one (I had a tooth again!) and I even managed a curry at the Hussain, my favourite curry house in the world. Oh that bhindi bhaji! And my final walk around Waitrose almost had me in tears: so much food I wanted still to eat; so little time.

So caught up a little here, making no promises for the future since I always seem to break them, but have much more to tell...

Welcome to the world

Many congratulations to Megan - my former midwifery student and lovely Canadian friend - and her husband Craig on the birth of their first daughter, Esme Ruby Dusterhoft. A home waterbirth - of course!

Cregan's wedding

Well they've only been and gone and done it. Megan & Craig were married on the beach at Tofino this afternoon: the weather was perfect, everyone turned up who should have (i.e. bride, groom) and there were tears at both the ceremony and the reception (mainly from me). Location was amazing, speeches were emotional, food was fabulous. More importantly, I was able to be there when two of the loveliest (and funniest) people I know got
married, so that was perfect. The sea and wind meant that it was hard to hear what was being said at times, so when Megan said her own specially-written vows to Craig, no one could but Craig could hear what she said to him - though we could see it made them both cry! - which seemed apt somehow. It felt a bit like the end of Lost in Translation.

More photos here.

And in a tremendous stroke of luck for myself, I am now in Megan & Craig's recently-vacated bed in one of the Cottages at the Long Beach Lodge which they were sharing with Joelle & Tyler (having now moved to a room of their own to get a little more, ahem, privacy). The bed itself is about the same size as the entire room at the hostel - I'm considering sleeping on it sideways just because I can. Can't say I'm sorry to leave the hostel; I find sleeping in a room with three strangers a little like the aftermath of a particularly uncomfortable four-way...with no actual sex as a benefit.

All change! and the story of Ontario Part 1

Well do I have some gossip for you.

I have lots to tell about my time in Ontario, which I suspect I'll do over 2 posts, but I'll start by telling you the big news that my summer plans have changed.

As you may remember, I was planning to work the Calgary Stampede with Chelsea, then go back to work at CMH, the heli-hiking company, as a bus host for the summer in Banff. However, after falling in love with Ontario after my holiday there, I've decided instead to move there for the summer. I have blown off my CMH gig - Traci my would-be boss there was fabulous about it, told me that I'd not burnt any bridges and that any time I wanted a job with them, summer or winter, I was very welcome to come back - and am not going to work the Stampede either, which did look amazing but will have to wait for another time. Instead, after packing up all my remaining stuff in Banff this morning and taking the bus to Edmonton to stay with Megan & Craig again (the poor things must feel like the long-suffering parents to a repeatedly prodigal daughter), I'm flying back to Toronto on Monday. I'm going to be renting the (small) house next door to Isaac's parents - Isaac will join me there - and have applied for a job as a Tree Top Trekking Guide at the Horseshoe Resort, where MaryLyn, Isaac's mum, works. I've already had a telephone interview and they reckon I'm a shoe-in, but have a proper interview next week and will start training straight away if successful. Isaac is getting a car - well, actually a big 4x4 truck - ready for me to drive to and from work. I am going to be a redneck for the summer, and I'm proud.


So I should tell you how this all came about. Well the story starts when I arrived in Toronto to stay with my cousin Tine, who hadn't seen for something in the region of 15 years, and her husband Chris. She picked me up at the airport - waving a small Danish flag of course! - and drove me back to her house in Newmarket, around an hour out of Toronto. The house is lovely and my mini-break there began in great style with a BBQ. She has 2 sons, Michael and Shane, who are 21 and 17 respectively, who were lovely, so polite and thoughtful (to me at least; I'm sure, like all brothers, they can be a right handful at times!) Tine & I talked and talked and talked for hours, catching up on all the family gossip on both sides.


The next couple of days saw me shopping with Michael, popping in to see where Tine works, being dropped off in Toronto for a day's exploring (great city, and it reminded me more of London than any other city I've been to), dinner at the top of the CN Tower (where the food was stunning), more BBQs and bike rides and walks in the sweltering and humid heat.

The Friday happened to be Shane's Prom. I know this is starting to become a popular thing back home but here it is firmly established and, after a photo shoot at home to get pictures of Shane in his suit (in 35 degrees the poor love!), we all headed over for pre-Prom drinks at a school friend's parents house. The house was ENORMOUS and they'd catered for 150 school kids and parents. The kids looked amazing, though I dread to think how many hours of preparation and dollars went into making then look that way! We waved them all off in limousines, and made our way back to Tine & Chris's house to wait for Isaac, Jordan & Matt to pick me up for the next leg of my holiday.

Just by way of explanation, Isaac worked with me in Guest Services at Sunshine: we considered ourselves the A-Team. We had the same days off so we became very close and confided in each other about all aspects of our lives out in Banff. We began each and every day with a huge hug - often for long minutes at a time - and this got us into trouble with our boss, Susan, who didn't like us being so close. She was clearly insanely jealous, though whether it was me or Isaac she was jealous about, we never established. Towards the end of the season we actually got banned from hugging, then from talking to each other, which of course only made us more determined to find ways and means to carry on regardless. I'd met his parents when they'd come to visit and got on famously, so when they'd asked me to come and visit them in the summer I jumped at the chance! Isaac had had to leave Sunshine nearly 3 weeks before we closed because his staff accommodation was withdrawn. I had offered to put him up at the Beaver, but with the new people coming in, we weren't sure if they'd have told on us to the landlords, so we didn't want to risk it. So he headed back to his parents' place in Coldwater, Ontario but we stayed in regular contact and we missed each other terribly. Jordan is his friend from back home who'd also worked at Sunshine, in the rentals tech shop with Gravy, and whom I also adored. Matt is their friend who I hadn't met. I was sooooo excited about seeing Isaac again and knew we'd have a fabulous time - he'd taken 10 days off work to spend time with me - and indeed we did.

Part 2 to follow...

The end and the beginning

The Slush Cup at Sunshine traditionally signals the end of the season and provides the opportunity for an enormous piss-up, for both staff and guests. This year was no exception.

I hadn't quite got my head around exactly what the Slush Cup was. I knew it was a bunch of competitors, who were dressed up in weird & wonderful ways, skiing down a hill towards a pool of water in the hopes of getting across it in an upright position. What I hadn't worked out was how big the run up was, how big the pool was and how wet I'd get sitting next to it. It was great, and I had enormous fun, but wished I'd remembered Susan's advice to bring a spare pair of shoes and socks. Frozen tootsies aside, the party afterwards with the hog roast and the fire in the car park was awesome.

Good thing I don't drink, of course, because I had a job interview this morning for Canadian Mountain Holidays. After an hour of chatting about everything from midwifery to mechanical engineering over a nice cup of coffee, I was offered the job as Summer Exchange Co-ordinator, which is basically the person who gets guests and their luggage onto the bus in Banff, rides with them to the heli-pad and sees them off for their heli-hiking excursions. Then I will gather up the group of weary travellers who are arriving back from their trip, and bus them back to Banff, all the while on-hand to provide useful titbits of information about the Rockies and their inhabitants. Not difficult, but takes a certain kind of chatty, organised person*. Of course the fact that this is also the same company who does heli-skiing, and that they have already said that opportunities to work with the company over winter may well arise, has little to do with how excited I am about my new job; oh no, I was swayed by the fact that during the bus journeys I can eat as many muffins as I want. Read it and weep. I start as soon as I finish working the Calgary Stampede, assuming tomorrow's job interview goes well of course. As always, gentle reader, I'll let you know.

Slush Cup photos here.

*i.e. me

Lessons and visitors

Firstly, I'm a little behind in telling you that I took my first pupils out for a ski lesson last week. I loved it! No money changed hands, I assure you, though naturally chocolate was both offered and accepted. I work with a girl called Serina, who has been snowboarding since the beginning of the season, though has had mixed feelings about it. She has a friend who skis coming over in a couple of weeks and wanted to ski with her, so asked me to take her out. She'd skied once before, when she was 14, but had broken her arm on her first run. A challenge, then. PJ, her boyfriend is a good snowboarder but had never been on skis, so we started from scratch. Serina was a natural! She loved skiing and kept saying she didn't know why she'd been boarding all this time, when she was obviously a skier at heart. Ha! PJ was a bit frustrated at being a beginner again I think, in the same way that I was when I went snowboarding for the second time last week. I found myself sat at the side of a green run having fallen over for the umpteenth time, aching and cross, watching skiers whizzing past and eventually said sod this, went and got my skis and had a brilliant afternoon. PJ did the same an hour or so after I left them, but came and said thank you to me for giving Serina confidence. The following day she went on a lesson with Ski School and did her first ever black run at the end of it! I'm so proud of her...

And now onto the big news of the week and the reason I've been slack with my blogging: Jenny & Liddi have left today after staying with me for a week, during which time I've
sent them on a scavenger hunt around Banff (a thinly-veiled ruse to get them to buy me cupcakes, I'll freely admit), they've had ski lessons with ski school here at Sunshine while I was working, done shots at the Devil's Gap bar, we've taken the gondola up Sulphur Mountain and soaked in the Banff Upper Hot Springs whilst laughing at some poor teenage boy's carefully-tonged hairstyle, eaten ribs at Tony Roma's and spaghetti at the Old Spaghetti Factory, had Easter dinner with Megan & Craig and enjoyed an impromptu party at the Beaver, skied together on bluebird days, had a cleaning frenzy in preparation for a landlord inspection and locked Jen & Liddi in the bedroom while the landlords were there so they remained unaware that I had illegal guests. It's been lovely having visitors and I hope they enjoyed themselves too. I don't think Liddi particularly enjoyed skiing - I strongly suspect she has now hung up her skis and retired her poles - but nonetheless she actually did it really rather well for a beginner, as you can see in the video below. Nice one Liddi!

Glowing...

Firstly a quick reminder that Sam Jackson's Secret Video Diary is now available for download here. Pay as much or as little as you like, and while you're about it, you can download Beyond Fiction, the documentary about the making of the mockumentary. As you are all my friends/family/aquaintances/randoms who read my blog I'm sure you want to support me and my friends by doing so! Thank you very much.

Secondly - and I can't believe it's taken me a week to tell you guys about this, given my natural urge to show off at any opportunity - but I have been voted Employee of the Week (Inside Category) here at Sunshine. Not bad for my first month, eh?! It stemmed from an incident involving two Senior Alpine Ski Clubbers who left their skis near our ticket windows and I found them and took them back to their hotel for them, so they could ski at another ski hill the following day. They were very grateful and I got a $10 tip! I'm not exactly sure who put nominations in the Employee of the Month box on my behalf (although I know one of them was Zander, who I roped in under duress to help me carry them to the hotel). Apparently they have a committee of Supervisors who take all the nominations throughout Sunshine (approx. 800 employees), as well as all the comments that come into our website, and vote on who they think deserves the title. Then the winners (there are several categories, Inside, Outside, Behind the Scenes etc.) get invited to a swanky dinner prepared by our head chef (apparently it's amazing food) and prizes, which consists (I think) of a trail sign with our name on it. Can't wait for the dinner, which is on Jan 4th - will post pictures natch.

Bad/good

Been really pissed off for the last week or so as the injury I referred to in my last ski-based post, which caused me to fall over whenever I turned, has been getting progressively worse and I've been unable to ski since then. It's basically the ligament just to the back of my left knee that I've managed to strain, and even walking has been very painful. Today it began to feel a bit better...until I had to run for the bus this afternoon and it throbbed all the way home. So I'm trying to give it time to recover before I get back on the slopes, which has been enormously frustrating, as I'm desperate to keep practising. Still. Got to be sensible.

On a more positive note, a few days ago, about 15 mins before I left work, I got a call from a hotel in Banff where a Senior's Alpine Ski Club were staying. They'd been to Sunshine and two of the women had left their skis and poles outside our ticket windows. I popped out and found them and, after several confused conversations about how we could return them to the women (who were off to a different ski hill the following day), I decided to take them back there myself, as it wasn't too far from where I live in Banff. I roped Zander in to help me cart them back and handed them into the hotel reception. Job's a good 'un. Today, Sheila, one of the women, called my work to thank me and to ask where she could send me a 'tip'! I protested feebly before giving her my address and we wished each other a Merry Christmas. How sweet.