It’s Sunday night.. which means tomorrow is Monday.. aka “back to work after having 3 weeks off”-day.. I’ve been in back in Vancouver since Wednesday late afternoon so here’s an update of what I’ve been up to since then.

Wednesday: The longest day.. EVER.. I couldn’t get to sleep on Tuesday night, and I had to be up at 4:45am on Wednesday, to be up the airport by 6am to make the 7am flight. Finally fell asleep sometime past 1am then woke up what felt like 5 minutes later and really didn’t want to get up. Did the emotional farewell thing at the airport (hate that!) and flew to Gatwick. Stood in line for security screening for about 50 minutes, the place was mobbed. Flew home.. the flight kinda dragged, and I was dead tired by the end of it - now 11pm by my body clock but really only 3pm in Vancouver. Shanelle met me at the airport, told me my accent was thicker, and that I smelled of airplane and travel. Nice, real nice - way to make a guy feel self-conscious!

Came home, showered, felt vaguely more human. I fancied staying up a bit, going to bed when I was really out of it, then getting up the next morning and having zero jet lag, just like I did when I flew to the UK. That wasn’t how it turned out though. I ended up going to the pub with Shawn and Shanelle, then Noelene joined us, then Brian swung by to say hi after he got off from work. Yes, that’s right, Brian swung by. First time I’ve seen him in a little over 3 months. Really nice to see him, and a totally easy going/laid back time too - maybe the group dynamic smoothed over any potential awkwardness? Good times anyway - 5 beers and a mountain of food later, I’m feeling allll good! Went to bed around 11:30pm, wiped.

Thursday: Woke up at 2:15am. Then at 4:45am. Then at 5:25ish when I heard Shawn leave for work. And I couldn’t really get back to sleep after that - bugger! Lazed about a lot, stayed in bed and pissed around on my laptop. Went to the pub in the evening for a bite to eat and a couple of beers, and that was that.

Friday: Woke up less than the previous night, but still earlier than normal. Vegged and chilled then went for a haircut. Went for lunch with Okhtay then came home to veg’n'chill some more. Got invited to the pub by co-workers who were going after work so accepted the invitation and hit the pub for the third night in a row (alcoholic much? you haven’t heard the half of it yet!). Shawn came for a pint, Brian came and met us, then we went off to the movies. Josh phoned, said he’d come join us, and did. I left my umbrella in Starbucks and it wasn’t there after the movie, nor had it been handed in. Fucker, whoever stole my brolly!

Saturday: Met up with Brian and his friend Jen for brunch. Good food, good conversations - nice. She went off afterwards, and Brian and I went to an open house at an apartment he’d seen advertised. They wanted $750/month for a place which really wasn’t all that big - I thought they were ripping the piss a bit. We walked around a bit looking for other places with vacancies, Brian made a few phone calls and left his details a bunch of times. Apartment hunting’s such a pain in the arse sometimes - competition’s fierce, rents are sky high etc..

I had tentative plans to hang out with Charlotte, Ben & co in the evening but I felt pretty wiped - I didn’t really fancy trekking over to 4th Ave and being in a busy bar etc. Turned out she was a bit wiped too so it was ok to take a rain check. Ended up going down my local for food and a few beers - it would have been rude not to, right?

Sunday: Did some more of the cleaning and tidying I started earlier in the week. I had a car booked for a few hours this afternoon and went to IKEA and Home Depot with Shawn. Came home, went to the pub for one (ok, two), came home again, Shawn cooked, I did more cleaning and tidying, we hung out a bit, and here I am - coming up on half eleven and I’m wiped! Definitely need to hit the sack soonish and be all bright eyed and awake for work tomorrow, and how!

Points For Clarification:

  1. Yes, I’m friends with Brian again. I won’t lie - I missed having him as a friend, so I’m glad we can be friends again, hang out, walk’n'talk, rip the piss etc.
  2. Shawn is now officially my room mate rather than someone who’s staying at my place temporarily while he finds a place of his own.
  3. Despite having been to the pub 5 nights in a row, I’m not an alcoholic. Protesting too much? In denial? No. It’s just a joke now - going so often. Can we make it 7 nights in a row? The jury’s out (and I have plans later in the week!) - I’ll keep you posted ;-)

On that note, I’m off to bed. I’ll do my podcast tomorrow, which will hopefully be more entertaining than reading this blog entry.