Week 3

Another week has gone by and once again, it has been excellent. I left off still in Banff and residing in a cracking little cabin with some excellent people. Fresh from the hot tub, and in the presence of some pretty magnificent footwear from one of my fellow passengers...

... I moved onwards via plane to Vancouver where I met up with my mate Dave. After sampling some fine pub food on Tuesday evening, We made an early start on Wednesday morning on the bus and ferry to  Vancouver Island. Our destination was a place called Tofino on the west coast and as such it required a long drive through some pretty spectacular mountain scenery. It was remote in places but it was OK as I'm pretty sure the bus was being driven by Liam Neeson.

It was a miserable day when we left so it was a nice surprise to find lovely clear skies when we arrived. What a nice place Tofino is by the way. Small enough that pretty much everyone knows everyone and the hostel we stayed in seemed to be a focal point. There were certainly some characters staying there. One chap was a typical surfer dude called Troy (also a dab hand at karaoke by the way) who was kind enough to take us out surfing on one of the numerous and spectacular beaches. As it is freezing cold, we donned full wetsuits complete with boots, gloves and hats. I should mention Dave had difficulty in differentiating between the leg and arm holes of the wetsuit with inevitably hilarious consequences. Having said that, we all looked ridiculous. Nevertheless, it was a great day surfing and one capped off with beers, pool and BBQs. The next day, we ventured onto a small boat bound for some remote hot springs an hour up the coast. The journey was punctuated with sightings of Sea Lions (which were massive) and a Gray Whale (obviously also massive).

On arrival at the spot in question - only reachable by boat- we hiked through some stunning rainforest led by a mysterious dog which appeared from nowhere, until we reached the hot springs. It was completely natural and connected by a small inlet to the sea which maintained pretty much a perfect temperature. This allowed us to relax and drink some beer. It was frankly, an absolutely brilliant day.

Back at the hostel, I learned of an impressive talent held by one of the other guests. Tremendous guy called Alex he was, and he had cycled all the way from San Diego to Vancouver Island. His claim to fame however is being the world record holder for juggling the most balls at once...11. He showed us a video and everything and here's a link if you don't believe me.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWX4QSmnw6g

We met many most excellent people and it was a pleasure to exchange stories and shoot some pool with all of them. Alas, as nice as Tofino was, we couldn't stay for ever and so we journeyed back to Vancouver for a night of more barbequed meat and beer at our friend Ed's house. Think beer pong, impromptu guitar singalongs, dancing in the living room to Michael Jackson and generally having a good time. Once again, thanks for having us along Ed.

So that pretty much brings us up to date. I am currently writing this in Seattle where I've bussed it down to today and I now have a free night to get things together before the next leg. I've said bye to Dave, so once again cheers for being a generally all round good guy my friend, and I move to picking up the rental car tomorrow for my road trip. Stand by for some insane road trip action.
W

Week 2: Banff and Weddings

So this is the second of my blogs on the subject of my month long excursion across the pond. What a splendid week it has been. Most importantly it has seen the wedding of two very good friends but it has also been an opportunity to meet some great new people and forge some new friendships. Everyone involved has been exceptionally welcoming and good spirited. I left off having been snowboarding and to an authentic ranch type bar, which I’m told was the actual setting of a scene in Cool Runnings. Then came the stag do. It took place in the town of Banff as did the wedding, deep within the Rocky Mountains, in a location befitting dignity and decorum. The Groom in question wore a dress all night and was significantly intoxicated. I should add, he wasn’t the only one. I went home with his handbag although I’m not quite sure why.

For the week leading up to the wedding I thought I would stay in a hostel to save a bit of money. It was a nice hostel actually although its only downfall was the fact that (as in most hostels) the showers were outside the rooms which all had locks on. This meant that you had to take your key card with you whenever you went for a shower – a task I excelled at until one particular afternoon. It resulted in me having to venture down to the main hostel building, through the subzero temperatures outside, in nothing more than a towel in order to regain access. Not my finest moment. 

In the absence of any tasks during my travels, I thought I should at least make myself a bit useful, and so I devised a mini task. Sewing. One of the sleeves on my jumper had split to an unacceptable degree and so, in a spare moment, I bought a sewing kit and stitched up the offending split. I figured, if I can sew up people, I can sew up a jumper. Unfortunately, the repair job in question has displayed ominous signs of disintegration as of this evening, but nevertheless it holds fast for now.  Below you can see my handiwork.

The wedding itself took part in a cracking location amidst mountain forests and reports of bears waking up from their winter slumber. Bride and groom were glowing and the speeches were both moving and hilarious. The food was tremendous and I attempted line dancing with varying success. Another nice touch involved the father of the bride sneaking an old song into the DJ set that the groom and I played together in a band long ago, which was a lovely gesture.

Here’s a link to the latest version of the song if you wanted to listen. (Sorry, couldn’t resist a plug).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEIabK65pQ4

After the wedding, a group of us moved into a cabin for a few days to enjoy the rest of our time in Banff. At the risk of repeating myself, everyone was brilliant. We spent a lot of time listening to some band called ‘Alt J’ or something, and I can only be thankful that our visit also coincided with some sort of Arnie season on the Canadian movie channel. We spent time in the hot tub, we perused the town of Banff and its numerous gift shops and pubs and we snowboarded.Then this happened.

Although it looks like the aftermath of a viscious bear attack it is actually the result of a nose bleed suffered by the groomsman after  punching himself in the face during an elaborate leap from the mountainside.

Anyway, although I have enjoyed my time here, it cannot last and I must move on. Once again, for those who may read this, a massive thanks goes out to all who have been so welcoming and I genuinely wish I could stay longer. However, I must continue onwards towards Vancouver and Tofino and beyond. May the adventure continue. 

Ps. While I was bored at the airport I put together this little video using some trance music. Hopefully you enjoy! Until next time! 

Canada

So it's been a great week frankly! It is week one of my travels and I am currently writing this blog from the balcony at the lodge I'm staying in. This is the view.

It started off pretty well back in England last week when I managed to get included in the round of drinks that a random American chap was ordering for letting him go first at the bar. I was rewarded with a cocktail flamed with a blow torch and served in a ceramic power ranger's head. The round came to £130 which I felt more than a little guilty about.

Midweek I flew out to Calgary where I was kindly put up by my good friends and things have been fairly non stop since then. Big up to Jake and Meg! So far I have line danced in a proper cowboy club, I've survived a cracking stag do in Banff and have fitted in a day of snowboarding as well. I'm also pretty sure I was initiated into a massive group of Japanese skiers all wearing identical yellow jackets who surrounded me in a car park while I was eating a subway. They pointed and laughed at me a lot.

Any way, it's pretty beautiful out here so long may it continue. I'll keep things updated as and when they happen.

W

Odd jobs and BBC

My task this week was to learn odd jobs and assorted skills that frankly every man should possess. I won't lie, Youtube has been even more of a friend in this than usual. Aside from that I also enlisted the help of my aptly named book which  you can see below. For some reason, this is in mirror writing so, to translate - 'How to Fix Everything For Dummies'.

I am now fully versed in the workings of most home boilers and plumbing systems as well as being a dab hand at dealing with faulty electrical appliances. If you need your radiator bleeding then look no further. I now roll like this...

So as well as the task, this week also saw the last days of BBC Television Centre. It is a place that conjured up many aspirations as I was growing up and I thank myself lucky that I have been able to walk past it most days this year before it is mercilessly ripped down to make way for flats and a new cinema (of which there are two a mere 5 minute walk away). It's closure marks the end of my dream to one day go there in some shape or form, perhaps as part of one of the large charity events such as Children In Need, and seduce Fearne Cotton in those hallowed corridors. Of course, the end of that dream more likely came about when she married the son of a Rolling Stone and subsequently bore his child.

On Friday you may or may no know that the occasion was being marked with a gig by Madness. I was going past at that time anyway and so I thought I'd hop off the tube to see if anything was going on and this is what I saw.

Pretty cool eh? It was quite a site to behold and I felt pretty privileged to be witnessing it all. Something which all seems to be happening with a bit of a whimper and far less fanfare than the occasion deserves in my opinion. And although it looked good from the outside, Madness?! They were almost literally rubbish. Maybe they've not heard of a small band called Gun Hill Riffs. 

In other events, I attended a rather nice gin bar in central London even though, despite the best efforts in the past of one person in particular, which I appreciate, I still don't actually like gin. It insists upon itself. In a separate event, I believe I saw the tallest man I have ever seen walking around the shops. He can't have been shorter than 7 foot so I followed him for a little while just so I could look at him. Phenomenal.

So, I must sign off the usual blogs for around a month now, as I am about to embark upon a rather lengthy trip over to North America. As a rough outline, I will be hitting Calgary, Banff (snowboarding!), Vancouver, Tofino (?surfing), Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Yosemite, Coastal Redwoods (where they filmed the forest moon of Endor in Return of the Jedi), LA and Vegas. Should be alright. I will of course bring some holiday blogs to the table and keep it all updated with how I'm getting on. Normal service shall resume on my return. Until then...

                                                                                                                                  W

Unicycling!

So my weekly task was to learn how to unicycle. Quickly, it has become apparent that it's well hard and as such the task has now changed to 'beginning to learn' how to unicycle. At this, I have excelled. The video below shows some of my trials and errors before the best run I've had towards the end. Tremendous fun!

The unicycle is a peculiar piece of kit. As I continuously fell off it, I wondered who it was invented by and why they invented it. Surely, someone capable of inventing such a thing lacks any sort of common sense or strength of mind. I have been unable to find the exact inventor of the unicycle but some say that it evolved when people riding penny farthings would lean forward and found that they didn't need their back wheel. Clearly these people were idiots. Nevertheless, I'll see where it takes me for the rest of the year.

 Amongst other activities, I attended a personal training session this week at a full on proper gymnastics gym in my quest to learn a back flip. It was a tough session, not least because of the warm up that I was given - to do a 4 length scramble through a massive foam pit. This genuinely almost killed me.Still, great fun and a proper big time gym. See below!

 

At this stage I can achieve half a back flip. For obvious reasons, this is not particularly useful and so I am returning next week to continue.

In other news, I spent most of Tuesday walking around with my flies wide open and on Wednesday I witnessed one man on the tube virtually inhaling an entire pack of ready salted Pringles. It was truly a site to behold.  

So next week will see a continuation of back flips and the task will be to educate myself on some general odd jobs that all men should know. Should be a goodun!
W

Periodic Table

I've had a good week this week. Done a bit of work and earned some money, which is always helpful. February has been reasonably good to me and after a long drawn out process of interviews and exams (that have, frankly got in the way of a lot of fun to be honest!) I have learned that I have a job on the GP training program come August in Oxford deanery. I guess in a world in which one has to make a living by working, that's good news and a weight off the old shoulders.

So, that done, time for full concentration on the final half of my year out. It's been a great first half and I sense the second will be at least as good! I feel I have achieved a lot although I did go to a rather random but quite awesome evening at a central London pub. It was one of those pubs in which you could imagine epic 19th century expedition to deepest darkest Peru being conceived and planned. The night I went, it was hosting a night of talks from various adventurers who were telling us all about their escapades. One girl was telling us all about how she had become the first woman to have run across the entire north American continent, running 45 miles a day in the process. Whilst I sat there listening and sipping down several pints, I thought about how I have been scaling staircases like a penguin for 2 weeks after running 13 miles. I guess some people are just in a different league!

Either way, my task was to learn the entire periodic table this week. Now learning the periodic table in spare moments on a night shift is rather tedious I must say, and more than a little tiring, but I got it done. Hopefully it shall be useful in the future although how, I have no idea. Interestingly it was devised in 1889 by the Russian chemist Dimitri Mendeleyev, who was able to predict the existence of elements that had yet to be discovered because of the gaps that occurred. So don't say I never teach anyone anything. Take a look below.

Having purchased a unicycle, I can't wait any longer so next week's task shall be to learn the unicycle to a respectable level. Hopefully I don't break my leg.
W

Car Mechanics

I totally just won £176 from a £5 bet on a football accumulator. Just had to get that off my chest straight away! It was most useful in the purchase of a new travel guitar ready for my month in north America in just over a month. And added to that, it came in handy when buying the unicycle that will form one of my weekly tasks. I managed to get a good deal on Gumtree from a guy in West Hamstead.

Always a little sketchy though when buying stuff from people you don't know. Especially when you walk into their flat and they lock the front door behind you. At this stage, alarm bells generally threaten to make themselves heard. These bells get louder when their two massive bulldogs round the corner and begin clawing at your legs. At this point, tales of the recent murder just round the corner are useful so I was pleased that this fella filled me in on all the details.

Luckily I live to tell the tale. He was actually a really nice guy and if he hadn't been, he was only little. So anyway, I ended up traipsing around North London with a small guitar and unicycle on my person. It drew quite a few stares and one group of school boys dared me to ride the unicycle down a large flight of stairs. I told them where to go.

My task this week was to learn some basic car maintenance and repair. One of the more useful and worthwhile on the list and it is an area that automatically makes me a real man. Already being well manly, this merely served to refresh a few skills. It actually uncovered an actual problem on my car that I was able to fix so everyone wins. Here's proof...

So there you have it. You may notice the car oil on my face. This is from the trials of my work and is categorically not fabricated in any way for effect.

So next week. My leg has improved from my marathon but it still needs some time so the unicycle will have wait. In the meantime, I will divert my attention towards memorising the periodic table. Until next time.
W