Annual Checkup

For those of you just joining our programme, today is the one year celebration of my arrival in Vancouver. Katie and I arrived on a chilly morning, and I well remember our little East Indian taxi man / fakir driving us around the city core for a quarter of an hour despite our weak requests to take us directly to our filthy, junkie-infested hostel. I also remember my sleep-deprived mind cross-pollinating our temperature and transport problems and wondering if I could quickly solve both by setting the driver's beard on fire. I decided it was best to remain calm and do nothing, but when he insisted we have lunch at his church, he was lucky I didn't have a lighter handy.

The rest of that winter was fairly quiet, as we found a place to live, met a few nice people and tried not to freeze to death. I earned a bit of cash selling my excess back hair to local street beggars, but generally, money was tight. Holiday travel, shopping binges, snow frolics and automatic weapons were all kept to a minimum, but we still managed to have a pretty good time. This winter will be a little different though, as now that I have a steady job I'm looking forward to getting out there and really blowing some serious cash.

Another big difference about this particular winter is that Katie won't be here. She flew home just a few days ago, and is probably enjoying a platipus and prawn cocktail as I write this. Not having her around means that I'm all out of good friends in this town (apart from a few Canadians, who don't even understand cricket), and that could be hard in the coming winter months. Still, Drow is heading my way in January for a spot of whale hunting and bear baiting, so that'll be nice.