Vacation ~ Week One, Vancouver
I did manage to arrive safe and sound back in Vancouver to begin my 2 months of holidays that will see me trotting around the globe. Once again, Marcus met me at the airport, ensured that I was safely tucked away in the home in Burnaby before he came back to Hong Kong.
The next dilemma was getting my car sorted for the week. Yes, ICBC has a great plan where it costs me an arm and a leg to insure the car for just a week. Sounds crazy, but it is actually cheaper for me to put new plates on the car, insure it as if I were staying for the year and then rip them off 7 days later when I park the car again. So yes, that is what I did ~ this is now the 3rd set of plates I have had on wee Maggie.
Spent the week catching up with friends and those who had time in their busy schedule. You seem to forget when you go away that other people's lives go on and they don't just drop everything for you when you get back... Although that said, I did pretty good catching up with folks.
Getting Maggie ~ this turned out to not be as bad as I thought. Taking the SkyTrain down to pick her up, I was concerned that the battery would be flat again, as it was the last time I came home. The removal of the leads however seemed to do the trick as she started up like a charm and worked well all week!
Karene ~ gal I used to work with at Class, she and I caught up over our dinner at Earle's which of course included dessert. Things with her are well but I did get told that my contribution to the postcard collection had waned a bit over this past contract.
The Yeos ~ Barry and Darci have a great bakery up in Peachland and of course with the fabulous 30+ weather, I was more than happy to take a run into the interior with the car and see how they were doing. Well they are busy as ever, gearing up for the summer season and hopefully looking forward to taking some time off later this year. I know at the end of my 6 months, I am kaput. I must hand it to these guys, every day for the past year, while it does leave you exhausted, the business appears to be doing well and people love your place. Next time I come up, I'm bringing the coffee drinking Greek so he can check it out. I know he'll give it a thumbs up!
Ms Darci
And Mister Yeo ~ the baker...
The stunning view in Peachland ~ how could you get tired of this?!? But alas, I did head home on Saturday trying to avoid the congestion of the long weekend traffic!
Roger and Adrianne ~ I love going to visit these two. They are continually in the process of home renovations and I think they could get away with starting their own reno show. Roger, a former colleague from Class he and I exchange IT battle stories, while Adrianne a former Royal Caribbean employee, she and I exchange Crew Bar stories, it is always a riot getting together with them ~ even if I show up unexpectedly sometimes!
Al and Brent... So good to see them. Brent who has just finished his degree at U Vic and is now a permanent resident in Vancovuer again, it was good to see them both ~ along with their new car! We managed to see Granville Island for dinner at Bridges one night...
Walk off a few calories and hit the ice cream shop (214 flavours is it?!?)
And last but not least, take a stroll down memory lane with a pint at the King's Head. While some things are not the same, they were both fantastic, helping me with my car while it is 'parked' in Vancouver along with taking me out to the airport... (which is where I managed to 'drop' the camera in the new trunk leaving me in a bit of a panic thinking I was embarking on this trip with no digital memories...) Al along with Canada Post came through as she mailed off the package, arriving just in time!
And the other visitor I had was Akis ~ Infinity was in port for the day, and it wasn't embarkation. As such, we had a chance to hang out for the day, and of course, it rained. I'm not sure Akis has actually seen Vancouver in the sun, but one day I tell you. We had great plans to go to Moderne Burger and then hit the Greek Bakery ~ all of which came up a bit short, but we did manage to have coffee! I know, what a surprise. Leaving him down at the port wasn't as difficult this time as I knew I would be seeing him in 3 weeks ~ this time it will be in Athens. All in all, kinda exciting!
The next dilemma was getting my car sorted for the week. Yes, ICBC has a great plan where it costs me an arm and a leg to insure the car for just a week. Sounds crazy, but it is actually cheaper for me to put new plates on the car, insure it as if I were staying for the year and then rip them off 7 days later when I park the car again. So yes, that is what I did ~ this is now the 3rd set of plates I have had on wee Maggie.
Spent the week catching up with friends and those who had time in their busy schedule. You seem to forget when you go away that other people's lives go on and they don't just drop everything for you when you get back... Although that said, I did pretty good catching up with folks.
Getting Maggie ~ this turned out to not be as bad as I thought. Taking the SkyTrain down to pick her up, I was concerned that the battery would be flat again, as it was the last time I came home. The removal of the leads however seemed to do the trick as she started up like a charm and worked well all week!
Karene ~ gal I used to work with at Class, she and I caught up over our dinner at Earle's which of course included dessert. Things with her are well but I did get told that my contribution to the postcard collection had waned a bit over this past contract.
The Yeos ~ Barry and Darci have a great bakery up in Peachland and of course with the fabulous 30+ weather, I was more than happy to take a run into the interior with the car and see how they were doing. Well they are busy as ever, gearing up for the summer season and hopefully looking forward to taking some time off later this year. I know at the end of my 6 months, I am kaput. I must hand it to these guys, every day for the past year, while it does leave you exhausted, the business appears to be doing well and people love your place. Next time I come up, I'm bringing the coffee drinking Greek so he can check it out. I know he'll give it a thumbs up!
Ms Darci
And Mister Yeo ~ the baker...
The stunning view in Peachland ~ how could you get tired of this?!? But alas, I did head home on Saturday trying to avoid the congestion of the long weekend traffic!
Roger and Adrianne ~ I love going to visit these two. They are continually in the process of home renovations and I think they could get away with starting their own reno show. Roger, a former colleague from Class he and I exchange IT battle stories, while Adrianne a former Royal Caribbean employee, she and I exchange Crew Bar stories, it is always a riot getting together with them ~ even if I show up unexpectedly sometimes!
Al and Brent... So good to see them. Brent who has just finished his degree at U Vic and is now a permanent resident in Vancovuer again, it was good to see them both ~ along with their new car! We managed to see Granville Island for dinner at Bridges one night...
Walk off a few calories and hit the ice cream shop (214 flavours is it?!?)
And last but not least, take a stroll down memory lane with a pint at the King's Head. While some things are not the same, they were both fantastic, helping me with my car while it is 'parked' in Vancouver along with taking me out to the airport... (which is where I managed to 'drop' the camera in the new trunk leaving me in a bit of a panic thinking I was embarking on this trip with no digital memories...) Al along with Canada Post came through as she mailed off the package, arriving just in time!
And the other visitor I had was Akis ~ Infinity was in port for the day, and it wasn't embarkation. As such, we had a chance to hang out for the day, and of course, it rained. I'm not sure Akis has actually seen Vancouver in the sun, but one day I tell you. We had great plans to go to Moderne Burger and then hit the Greek Bakery ~ all of which came up a bit short, but we did manage to have coffee! I know, what a surprise. Leaving him down at the port wasn't as difficult this time as I knew I would be seeing him in 3 weeks ~ this time it will be in Athens. All in all, kinda exciting!
posted by Carrie @ 11:11 PM
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