Entertainment, Economics and Existence

This week finds me dragging a little, as some small foibles start to add up to become bothersome interludes. Still. If you didn't see last week's photo slideshow( Nov. 16th entry ) about Fall here in Victoria, go have a look.

Nov 17th - The Business of Existing

The phrase "There's never enough time in a day" seems to mean many different things to many different people, to use another well-worn cliche.

For some, getting through each day is a small miracle, a wonder that they made it through to another sunset and live in hope of seeing another sunrise, that their illness or poverty or other problems will relent for another day, giving them some peace from their personal burdens.

Choice is there too: choosing to live as you will, the decisions adding up over years to dig your path through the dark woods of the unknown future. Some choose family, marrying their first sweethearts and defining their lives by the creation and rearing of new ones, hopefully in ways that turn children into stable, wonderful people that are a credit to their parents. Others choose careers, perhaps with family as a stable influence on their never-ending climb to the top of their profession. Still more, many more, deal with life as it comes, often getting lost in the blizzard of bills, commitments, accidents, joys and sorrows that fly at us from all directions as we try to make sense of it all.

Daily life, all the little things that pass us by, large and small, are the ticks of the clock. Ever-forward, with fond glances back at what was, things remembered with a golden glow seen through the ever-more opague window of the past.

Yet what does it all mean?

Bhuddist monks spend their lives contemplating existence. Military personnel give their lives in the performance of their duty. Politicians spend their lives getting others to believe what they say, for good or ill. Doctors heal wounds physical, while lawyers bandage other wounds with words and money. All professions, all choices made, even the choice of not resisting what life pushes in front of you.

Meaning is what we bring to our lives, the interpretations we put on what we experience. As the expression goes, sometimes the glass is half-full, other times half-empty... and sometimes the glass breaks. How you deal with your own interpretations gives meaning to them, and shows your mettle to others... for some, this is important, but for other people, what other people think is the last thing they care about, sometimes for unselfish and purely personal reasons.

What you do, how you exist, how you find your place in the puzzle of life, is your business. Judging others by your own standards may help you find your place, but you should always keep in mind that your standards often cannot apply to others - they have their own path to make through the woods.

This brings me back to my own situation, far away from my other existence in Niagara. It is startlingly similar in some ways though, as I have come to realize. The loss of friends, of family, of places, of pets and jobs and things all tumble one around in life, nudging or tossing you in new directions. The same applies to new jobs, new friends, new places... the old fades and the new glides into the empty space of loss. Friends who are no longer in touch, old loves lost, old jobs remembered for the funny and not the frustration of the day to day grind. People who have changed, grown distant with time and other commitments, taking us away from each other though we try, failingly, to stay in touch.

I suppose that is what bothers me, that things cannot stay the same, no matter how much we want them to. When friends become aquiantances, then just names on cards sent at christmas or birthdays... that saddens me sometimes. To know that our choices have separated us after long years together, for good or bad, and that to see each other again is to see in their eyes the distance that those choices have put between us. A distance bridged, for a time, with shared stories and laughter, to bring with us when we must part once more to return to the separate lives that our choices have become.

Nov 18th - Sleepless Near Seattle

I was awake tonight, far into the morning, for no reason I could disern. The quiet hours ticked on, while I lay sleepless, the red glow of the clock shouting silently that I should be dreaming.

It was as through I was a spectator to my own thoughts, watching them chase each other around the room in the dark but unable to see them clearly. My subconscious mind was obviously in high gear, but my conscious mind would not just shut it out and sleep. Damned annoying, to know that there are things bothering me on some level, but that I cannot bring to the fore... and so lose sleep over them.

Plus, it didn't help that the garbage truck made its usual early arrival at 7:10am... or that an hour before that, I received yet another "Uknown Call" to my 935-Niagara line. Which is frustrating, since you'd think that with all of today's modern CID tech, you could trace most every call... but when it shows up as all 0000's there is little anyone can do, especially on a VOIP line. Apart from trying to initiate a police trace, I cannot think of anything I can do to find out who's trying to sell me shoes at 6am PST... likely from a 9am autodialer in Ontario, or somewhere out east. Since I am on the National DoNotCall list, and the jerks don't leave a msg, I am just going to have to wait and see... and lose
sleep.

Ah well. At times like these, I think about how cool it would be to have a TARDIS... here's a look at the 45 Coolest Moments in Doctor Who history.

Nov 19th - Snappy TV

A long, long day... I ended up working 10 hours, due to two last-minute customers with large, complicated transactions. I really hate the part of human nature that makes people wait until just the last moment to really screw up someone else's day - combined with the other after-closing tasks that I had to get done, I was really tired by the time I cycled home in the cool mist.

Safely at home once more, I watched S:AAB ep 'Hostile Visit' which had a moment in it. On the eve of a suicide mission, one of the characters mentions the date... November 19th, today! I guess it's a 1 in 365 chance, or similar odds, but it still snapped me to hear it. The character talked about how she had fallen in love with Autumn, all the romance of the slight chill in the air, and how she would never see it again.

I was reading some of the SG: Atlantis production blogs, which are rather interesting for the insight( if slight )they give into the world of TV production. All the more interesting for that it takes place in Vancouver, which is not as far away as it was from Niagara - day-trip distant, in fact. Again, too bad both series are now over with, although SG: Universe is in the works, showing that the franchise has life left in it yet.

Nov 20th - Um, your hat...!

A promised windstorm never materialized today, despite some nasty-looking dark clouds that swooped in from the west. The rain was heavy, on an off, in that peculiar passing way that happens here in Victoria: pours for ten minutes, then light sprinkles for the same, then repeat. Nothing like the hours-long soakings I am used to from Niagara, or even the brief deluges that soaked me in Florida. I still remember a vast, dark cloud crossing the sky when I was living in Fonthill, a black wedge that reminded me of nothing other than a Star Destroyer moving against the lighter clouds around it. Yeesh.

One of the last customers of the day provided some entertainment: a solid construction worker, he came in shaking the rain from his jacket... and trailing smoke from his hat! I waited a beat, then said with a straight face a phrase I never thought I would utter: "Umm... you know your hat is on fire, right?" He said something colourful and then reached up to swat at his right ear... dislodging a still-burning cigarette and crushing down his briefly-smouldering ballcap. Apparently he had not quite pinched-out his cigarette before tucking it behind his ear and entering the store, so it had started to burn his hat! Luckily only a few seconds had passed, and his hat was wet from the rain... otherwise, he might have had a really bad evening. I'd not want to be the first person in MMart history to lose a customer due to a flaming hat...

Nov 21st - Economics

Mulling over the current economic downturn, I was perusing the 'net for opinions, articles and general thoughts about how things are going to go for the next six months. With the downturn affecting consumer spending, retailers are holding their breath for the next thirty days to see if wallets will open.

DollarStretcher.com recently posted an article about how the market downturn is affecting people's retirement plans. The article is interesting as it looks at various life stages of investors, from people just starting out fresh from university, to middle-career folk, to those already retired and watching their plans being jumbled by the economic uncertainty. Though it is not nearly as bad as the Great Depression( what was so great about it, anyway? )... from the people I have talked to who lived through it, the gist is that if you haven't lost everything and need to stand in line for days to apply for a job, then things aren't as bad as they were back then. At least every guy wore a decent hat and shoes.

Myself, I have migrated to a low-key holiday season... the days of ripping open presents under a tree are long past for me, save reminiscing over old and faded photos. I enjoy the holidays now more for their good cheer than anything else, though that's hard to muster when shoulder-to-shoulder with crowds in a shopping mall - hence my plan to avoid most such places evenings and weekends in December. I might enjoy the holiday music piped in as well, with less exposure to it; one can only hear "Jingle Bells" so many times before it becomes grating on the ear with false cheer.

Nov 22 - Overtime Saturday

The morning dawn'd bright and clear, though clouds lurking on the horizon shook their fists at the sun as they blurred across that firey disk from time to time. Much better than a gray, flat ceiling of clouds, glowing in one spot as the sun tries to burn its way through to smile on the earth below. Yep.

I worked an extra shift today at our Colwood store, which brought back some memories of Welland Ave in Niagara, where most every store, including Welland Ave, had a Timmy's nearby. In matter of fact, Colwood has the best setup I have seen: literally steps from the door, there is a Tim Horton's, and a few steps the other way is a Wendy's. Not that I eat out all that much anymore, but it pained me, almost literally, to see that the Bacon Mushroom Melt was back at Wendy's after a two-year absence... must be that time of year again - loved that sandwich. Though my coworkers back at Office Place asked me NOT to have it for lunch when I was working, as it tended to... disagree... with my digestion. But it tasted so GOOD. *sigh* Now that I have the gallbladder issues, beef has been off the menu for some years now, so I have made do with Chicken Grills, as well as enjoying soups from Timmy's such as Potato Bacon: now THAT is a satisfying meal.

Nov 23 - Cow Bay

Took a road trip today up to Cowichan Bay to celebrate my dad's upcoming birthday, he's turning sixty one... glad to see he has been retired for ten years already, and not the other way around, to be still waiting for retirement.

It was a scenic ride, as the weather cooperated and the clouds stayed away. We traveled up the Malahat Drive, hugging the mountainsides and taking in the great views across the Saanich Inlet - there are a few scenic outlooks along the way that are simply breathtaking; mere words cannot describe the sweep of the forested hills, the deep blue of the waters or the pearlescent snow-topped glow of Mt. Baker far to the east. The smell of dead fish when we passed Goldstream park was very strong, even with the vents off... I am not sure when that will end; hopefully after Christmas.

We had lunch at the Oceanfront Grand Resort & Marina, which is renowned on the island for its amazing Sunday buffet. It reminded me in a way of the Beacon Harbourside Hotel in Jordan, which my family used to head to on occasion for their Sunday buffet... which I recall as being rather limited, but they had lots of pancakes. We used to travel all over to check out new places for Sunday buffets, even up to Hamilton a few times, though most of the restaurants we went to are long since gone - anyone remember the old Julio's on Ontario St., where Jack Astor's is now?

The evening vanished in the usual blur of catch-up, as I juggled laundry loads with cleaning, to get things done so I can enjoy my total day-off tomorrow. Supposed to be bright and sunny, albeit chilly, so I may decide to take a walk around the block or to Cook St. Village, though doing so by myself really stinks sometimes... I can think just as well at home here, where it is warmer and less likely to rain on me indoors. MUCH less likely. Not that I mind the rain, when it could be snow... *smiles*


No spiders this week; the closed windows and scattered chestnuts around the apartment seem to have put paid to their nocturnal ramblings. Which is nice, as they don't pay any portion of the rent, the sods.

Weekdays, Words and Wonders

In my previous blog, it seems like people are fighting over who induced me to leave ON in the first place... truth be told guys, I made up my mind years ago, on my own. So there.... but I still wonder every week what my friends are up to back in ON, now that I am not around to bear witness. *grin*

Nov 3 - Square Starts

It's a Monday, and it's been a while since I've written about, well... Mondays. Seems that most anyone you ask has an opinion on the subject of Monday; it seems to elicit a very strong response in most people when asked. One can imagine why ... though I try not to get the image of a cubicle dweller trudging into a corporate office on a rainy monday for another day of dull meetings and bad coffee. This video seems to sum things up for such folk quite nicely.

This fellow seems to love mondays though: HappyJoblessGuy.com, whose article was written around the same time I arrived in Victoria last year. Since I already had a job waiting for me here on arrival, I was less worried than most about raiding my savings until I managed to land a job.

I wonder what Mondays are like in Second Life, that virtual world where you can design and be anything you want, from a talking fire hydrant to a sentient stapler. I would hope that there is not a single cubicle farm to be found in the whole place, save as dungeons to be navigated by the very brave...

Nov 4 - Flu for Me, Flu for You!

I went to the doctor's office just down the road today and got a free Flu shot, as I both work with the public( ick )and have Thalessemia Minor, so the more help I give my immune system, the better. Now, I have heard several detractors argue that it iss better not to get the Flu shot, to 'build up your defences naturally' or 'It doesn't work, I got sick anyway' or just plain old "I don't want to.' Well, I have to say that these folks are fools. The WHO gets together every year after tracking influenza strains from Asia, to devise countermeasures for this upcoming cold season. Why is it we HAVE a cold and flue season anyway? Two words: world travel. You have a look here for some useful common answers to flu season questions, as well as looking here for the whole reason we HAVE flu shots: The Spanish Flu that killed close to 100 million people( est. )from 1918-1920. Back then, a flu shot would have saved millions of lives, and people would have paid fortunes for a shot, wheras today it's free or cheap.

Continuing the thoughts from yesterday, I had a great conversation with some folks in the doctor's lobby after I had had my flu shot. The one gentleman was in his 80's, and was curious as to 'my generation's' habits towards savings, considering he had lived through the Great Depression where a penny saved WAS a penny earned. I replied that today, most people are living well beyond their means, depending on credit to extend their purchasing power far beyond their actual paycheques. As an example, I mentioned all those gas-guzzling trucks sitting by the roadside 'For Sale by Owner Cheap!' that have been seen in recent months as the gas prices climbed - I bet their former owners are feeling a bit put out now that gas has fallen again, but still, the point remains: they thought the best thing was to sell, rather than try to come up with 50% more operating costs per month.

That's the thing: Monthly Income. I'd wager that most people know exactly what net dollars they pull in, on average, every month. So they juggle, cajole and tweak their budgets to allow food, shelter, transport and such other necessities... then spend all of the rest on cableTV, entertainment and new clothes. Or whatever. Saving part of every paychque seems to be an alien thought to most, though some see the advantage of socking away RRSP's for the far future as well as more immediate tax gains. Happily, I can report that just recently it was revealed that Victoria has the lowest jobless rate in Canada... which is odd, seeing as we also have a very high number of homeless here too, many of which are embroiled in fights over camping in public parks. It's a strange world we live in.

Nov 5 - Woden's Day and Magic Pans

Continuing my thoughts on Days of the Week, we have today: Wednesday, also known popularly as 'Hump Day' ... the middle of the week, and a day nobody really looks forward to at all. Well, I used to, when it was Kilt Day, also Cheap Wings At The Kilt Day, $2.50 Pints Day, and even Cheap Mussels Day.... all of the previous being eat-cheap nights at the Kilt & Clover in Port Dalhousie. Ah, those were the days, all behind me now though I do not regret the undercooked mussels or wings, some of those nights.

Back to the Days of the Week though. This modern calendar we have is rather interesting, in that the names of the days are all descended from various special observances by past cultures. My favourite is Saturday, most obviously because it comes after Friday, and also for the fact that it is named for the Roman god Saturn, and not one of the Anglo-Saxon deities such as Thor, like Thursday / Thor's Day. Those reasons, plus all those great Saturday morning cartoons from my youth... ah, wasted TV time.

Speaking of my youth, does anyone else remember going to a restaurant called The Magic Pan? They had quite a few outlets in the 80's in Hamilton and Toronto, byut had vanished well before the end of the decade. After much searching, I located this great bit of Magic Pan info, by a professor no less. I really loved those Monte Cristo sandwiches from the M.Pan in Sherway Gardens, they were so tasty! Only much later did I come to discover they were not named afer the famous story of the same name.

Nov 6 - What was that word?

Still working nine-hour shifts this month, and to be honest I enjoy them. No need to swap things over to someone else starting their shift at all; just open the store, do the day thing, close the store and go home. Nice and simple, and far less stressful in some ways. Again, I do not have a problem with working alone, which doevetails nicely with my being able to live on my own, in a new city, with only a few contacts after a year on this strange soil. Still Canada though, so that's something... I cannot imagine uprooting myself to a country where English was not the major language, or where I could not find a reasonable fascimile of a Tim Horton's or a Canadian Tire... heck, even a Walmart would do, evil as they are.

Today I discovered this great blog about some one else who has been writing about their experiences in Victoria, and best of all... they have LOTS of pictures! Seeing as I am still working on my own photo projects( that never get too far, of late )then in the interim: I urge you to go have a look!

I also found UnWord.com, a place that I did not know I have been searching for all these years. Now I can finally find a home for all the words I have made up in my head over the years, like Splink, or Tworp( already there, darn it! )and even Guzooloo... me so hapy! Damn... now I'm reegressiinng. Have to breaktake now...

Nov 7 - Focus, people!

I was very disappointed today in my new laptop, more specifically it's 64-bit Vista OS. After enduring a massive 2gb download and a long install procedure to get a program working, a little box popped up with 'Sorry, this product is not designed for a 64-bit operating system' - argh! I was trying to get my rather expensive copy of Dragon Naturally Speaking v9 to work on my laptop, so I can increase my typing speed as well as spare my fingers from my odd typing style.

At the moment, I am foundering a bit for my tech writing, as Cyberwalker has shut down new articles for the forseeable future. Nothing but good news for Andy Walker, but not so good for getting any of my articles out to the public... so understandably, I am a little adrift on that front. I had a great time working with the team though, and hope that I can be on the inside for any future projects they create.

Which just means I have more time to focus my efforts elsewhere, like voice acting and writing novels. Heck, the old 'lemons make lemonade' slogan comes to mind, though of late I have switched to iced tea... which is still too acidic for my poor cola-crippled stomach to handle. Root beer for now, folks.

Nov 8 - Butchart Gardens

The time change has me getting up earlier, for some reason, so I have put the 'extra' time to good use, like today: early laundry! One surefire way to get an empty laundry room is to get there BEFORE anyone else, so I spent the morning running loads of clothes up and down the stairs. Seems folk are reluctant to trade quality weekend sleep-in time for convenice, which worked out well for me.

I was off to Butchart Gardens at 1pm today, in the company of my parents, who have already been to this garden wonderland several times. Never having been before, I envisioned something like a larger version of Niagara's Botanical Gardens - boy, was I wrong! You can see in this video what an amazing place it is, built initially on an old quarry and owned by the same family for over 100 years, it is obvious that generations of hard work have gone into every inch of the grounds. The sun cooperated today too, giving us fair illumination through some cloud cover for most of the day - my first view of the Quarry Garden was in full sunlight, and I have to say it was simply... spectacular.

Yet it was the Japanese gardens that stopped me in my tracks, though for a reason not likely to snap other people out of their reality. The entrance to the gardens was flanked by giant Japanese cedar trees, whose leaves were being gently blown by a light breeze. They were floating to the ground in perfect clusters, filling the air with fluttering continuous motion - tree snow, as I called it. What made me blink was that this was the SAME image that my favourite game, Neverwinter, uses in some of its most perfect animations. I had a sense of deja-vu in seeing those leaves fall, as I experienced the same sense of perfect peace then as I did onscreen - damned strange, and damned delightful, all at once.

Sadly, I have no pictures of the Gardens, as my parents forgot to bring our camera today even with my reminder of the day before. Just goes to show I need one of my own if I am to document my trips!

Nov 9 - The Salmon Run

Just after Rene called me today, I was on the road today again at 11am and heading north and west to Goldstream Park, where the annual Salmon Run was underway. No, it wasn't a marathon( hi Lucas! )but is instead the annual spawning of the pacific salmon, in their many thousands. I drove along the Malahat Highway for a ways, deep under the incredibly tall green trees perched on the sheer cliffs all around. Getting close to the park, we noticed hordes of people doing the same thing - well, maybe not hordes, but quite a few folk were out today. We managed to secure a parking spot fairly quickly at a point well along from the park entrance; the walk was lovely in the absence of rain and a semi-cloudy / semi-sunny noon-hour.

The first thing I noticed was the smell: anyone who has visited a fishery or been down to the docks when the fishing fleet is in would have recognized this distinct stink: dead fish. We took up a viewing spot on the single bridge across the stream, and took in the sight of hundreds of salmon trying to make their way upstream. Dozens of rotting carcasses dotting the stream sides attested to the difficulty of the task, and the shrieks of the many gulls looking for freshly-expired salmon added to the charm. Once we got used to the stink however, we could more easily appreciate the efforts of the fish to make their way through the very shallow water, only inches deep across most parts of the stream.

I would have posted a few nice pictures, but yet again the high-res camera was left behind by my parents, despite my reminders this morning; I was very annoyed for a good part of the day. Even so, the dark mottled colouring of the salmon meant that they were very hard to see against the rocks of the streambed, so the light and angle had to be just right for anyone to get a nice composition.

We had lunch afterwards at the Malahat Mountain Inn, whose spectacular view was very limited initially by the vast cloud bank that had rolled into the area. Fortunately it cleared somewhat after lunch, and we were treated to a misty view of the Finlayson Arm branching northwards.

After an afternoon of reading, chores and video games, I was sitting here at 8:30 when I realized I had spent well over an hour crafting this blog - it's great! Setting down my thoughts like this is far better than a journal, in that I am not trying to document washing socks or what I had for breakfast. Instead, I can let out some of my many interests, as well as filling in folk on the Great Things that I am discovering out here in Victoria every day...

So, do you like... socks? Until next week!


Jen, are you still out there? In all the ninjas, spiders and scheming school chums, your voice was the lone spotlight of reason in an insane Commentary... come back and spin your wondrous words! Aw hell.. now I'm spouting spider-rhetoric! Argh!

My First Week in Victoria - What a difference 4000km makes!

My time in Victoria these past 5 weeks has been very busy, but I have tried to be as observant as possible - I want to note all the things, big and small, that I find different about life here in Victoria B.C. . Granted, it's a sizable city, so I'm not exactly living in a small village by the sea.

***I will be updating my previous posts with Web links and pictures in the next week or so, so feel free to check back over them by the end of December to 'see' what you've missed! Again, don't forget you can Comment on on this blog down at the bottom, and the same for any other blog entry. Or, just email me. :)


Nov. 3rd - 10th, 2007 - A Week of First Impressions

I was up & out the door before 10am on Nov. 3rd, a Saturday - tired or no, we had lots to do and see, and only so much time left before we took the rental car back... but we ended up renting it for the entire week. Our first stop was at Sears, where I picked up a nice belt - on sale, no less! Needed a new one too, the others are a little tatty.

From there, we went to the Mayfair Mall, one of four area malls( the link also has a lot of info about Victoria's history too ). This one is rather unique; it has a hundred-year-old transplanted "Jeweller's" clock tower on the main corner of Douglas & Hillside, clad in shining golden metal that blazes in the sun like a beacon to shopoholics from across the city. We actually parked on the ROOF of the mall; due to the topography of the area, two of the sides of the mall are actually of a height with the surrounding roads, so the designers built the place with hundreds of additional spots ATOP the mall - you just drive on, and take one of the many stairs or the elevators down. As an aside, you can look DOWN through some of the mall's skylights from the parking lot - rather surreal, in some ways. What I liked the most about the mall( aside from it being modern & clean )is that it had BOTH an Arby's and a ToysRUs - I mean, really, does it get better than that? The food court is spacious and has a wide selection of vendors, and is done with lots of natural fieldstone designed to look like stylish stone fences.

After lunch at the Mayfair, we went to the local WalMart( there's always one around ), where we stocked up on all the 'essentials'. From there, it was a quick hop to a nearby TD Bank, where the bank manager himself took the time to open up a new account for my parents for their pensions. We stopped across the parking lot at the large Save-On-Foods grocery store, where we picked up more essentials and had to stop my dad from overbuying( as always )on foods. Just next door was the Saanich branch of the Victoria Greater Public Library, where we signed up and took out some reading materials. It wasn't a huge branch( that's downtown )but it was well-appointed, and about half the size of the St. Catharines Central Library - not bad for just a 'satellite' branch. Again, both the staff and patrons were very friendly.

It should be noted that so far, everyone without exception has been friendly and relaxed. A great many people my parents have talked to have enthused over how wonderful Victoria is, and welcomed us effusively to the area with genuine warmth. I must say, it is extremely gratifying to have total strangers smiling and chatting with you within five minutes of meeting you - when this happens again and again, anywhere in the city, you begin to glow and grin as well.

We ended the day on the 3rd rather tired, putting away our shopping swag and relaxing in the evening.

November 4th dawned as a beautiful Sunday morning. We decided to take a drive up the Malahat highway, a winding mountain two-lane road that curves west from Victoria into the gorgeous scenery. The view to the south from Victoria was amazing as well; the peak of Mt. Baker was quite clear, its snow capped top gleaming in the bright sunlight. Too bad I don't have a telephoto camera, or I would surely have snapped some awesome pics. Maybe next year...

The Malahat drive was stunning; huge trees a hundred feet high at the smallest dominate the slopes of the mountains in this region's wilder sections and in the parks that cover the lands. The drive was a spectacular vista of stunning views and shadowed corridors of trees, recalling many a nature documentary and summoning thoughts of primeval forests that humans stepped lightly through. The brilliant sunshine was a muted green glow filtering through the vast wooden spikes of the trees, whose lower sides were often covered with masses of soft green moss.

Another neat thing going on was the annual Salmon Run. The highway parks were simply bursting with parked cars and crowds of people under the massive trees, all of whom were there to see the local salmon spawning run. Tons of kids running around in the water, which can't have been all that warm. Given that the road curves like a snake on speed, I found it somewhat frightening that so MANY people and cars were packed along the shoulders, with so little room to maneuver for passing vehicles. Still, I put it on my 'to do' list for next year; looks like fun.

We had lunch at the Malahat Mountain Inn, which is perched on the side of a mountain at the side of the highway and affords spectacular views of the Findlayson Arm of the ocean inlets. The lunch was excellent: I had a spicy broccoli soup that was unlike anything I'd had before, light and tasty yet very filling. Not too expensive for lunch either, considering the view. Too bad the only camera I had was my parent's new cell phone - I took some shots, but they'll be rather pitiful.

On the way home, we drove by Beacon Hill Park, where another crowd of people were enjoying the fine weather by planting trees. Seems this is another annual thing that goes on around here; a ton of families were out, as were many environmentalists clutching spades. Add the many joggers, cyclists, walkers and other folk, and this place is quite the outdoor mecca.

The evening of the 4th was another quiet one; I added a quilt AND a blanket to my window with some creative use of nails and clothespins. Tristan seems to be quite happy here now too.

The 5th was a nice Monday, for my first day of work. I walked down the road to arrive for my am shift, which only took a few minutes through the heart of downtown Victoria. The day at the store was quite pleasant, as all the staff there are very friendly. They seemed to let me fit right in, and actually appreciated some of my modest attempts at humour - no serious Sams or prudes there, I am glad to say. Method-wise, the procedures and such are going to take some getting used to in terms of day-to-day operations, as there are many things that differ from what I am used to doing back in Niagara. Still, the basics are the same, and if my co-workers are any indication then there will be little internal staff-stress to deal with - which is good, as the customer stress is more than enough to worry about daily.

The 6th was an uneventful day at my new store, and later on I started to look for apartments here too using the local paper and search websites. While there is a large selection, I found right away that 2-bedroom units are not only scarce, they are expensive. But I will keep looking.

November 7th brought an unexpected surprise after an early 7am work shift: my sister called to say she was ON the island, as she had caught a ride down this way with a friend who runs hos own trucking business. So we piled into the rental and drove back north up-island to the ferry port of Sidney, where we managed to meet her at the local Saveway foods - all this without being able to get her on her cell phone. Unfortunately, we only had about fifteen minutes to see each other before they had to leave again to catch the ferry back to the mainland, but we did a lot of catching up, hugging and generally being a whole family again. It was great.

Nov. 8th was a typical Victoria winter day: grey and drizzly. Unlike Vancouver, our area does not receive heavy rains for weeks at a time; more like morning and afternoon showers that fall gently, unlike the usual driving rains I've grown up with. I worked this afternoon, while my parents spent the day driving to Langford to check out the various 'big box' stores up in that area, as well as scouting some furniture stores along the way.

Friday the 9th opened with us having breakfast at a lovely place called Brannigan's, which though excellent did not have the cozy atmosphere of the Sunrise back in St. Catharines... and of course, only my family was there, and not the usual crowd of friends. Still, it was good. Since it was a day off work for me, we then went on to London Drugs, which is a large chain of stores out here in the West that carries a large variety of goods, like a mini-WalMart in many ways. But less evil... anyway, I purchased an amazing little camera from Fuji, an F50 with a 12-megapixel resolution and a ton of great features all packed into a pocket-sized metal body. Now I could really start taking some decent photos of my new home. After that, we stopped by a place called Dodd's Furniture across from the Mayfair Mall, where we saw some great pieces including some new mattresses that I think both my parents and I will end up purchasing. Not cheap though, but at least I managed to secure some backup funding only a week before our move, enough to meet our many needs until my parents are settled into their pensions come the new year. Kudos to me, and my good luck! We ended the day by stopping in at the license bureau and getting new ones for all three of us, which was remarkably stress-free.

November 10th was another day off, and the weekend to boot. So of course, we went shopping... again. Good thing I love my parents, as I am no fan of shopping for anything save tech. We ended up putting down payments on a pair of mattresses at Dodd's Furniture, as well as a bed set for my parents that my mother simply fell in love with at first sight - my wallet gave a lurch at the same instant. To make up for it, they treated me to lunch at a nice restaurant out on the east end of the island in Oak Bay, called the Blethering Place Tea Room. It is an authentic British Tea Room and pub, with great service and even better food. The decor left something to be desired though; I'm sure any HGTV design team would get hives at the sight of the interior. Still, I had a fantastic turkey club, and being able to sit next to the windows allowed us to enjoy the sight of downtown Oak Bay in the sunshine - it's a very pretty town, similar to NOTL.

I also purchased a GPS( on sale, of course )for my father to use once he begins his tour guide job(s) in the new year. Though he was reluctant to leave the car to see it, he only needed 30 seconds of my demonstrating the easy-to-use Garmin Nuvi250 unit before asking "How much is it again?" with a smile. I was happy too; having a GPS will allow us to navigate the city much more easily in terms of FINDING places, instead of just wandering and making notes on a paper map. The day ended with my channel-surfing the cable TV here, trying to find my fave shows...


So that's a summary of my first ten days in Victoria. As you can see, I was quite quite busy and had already started work - so much for my week's vacation at the end of October / early November( as usual I spent it in service of the family - maybe next year will be different ). All this, and our huge shipment of worldly goods STILL hadn't arrived from MultiCites - I was starting to worry, and resolved to call them up on Monday the 12th to get an update.

Seeing as THIS blog entry has run on rather long, I will put some of my 'observations' into my NEXT entry, I promise - by this point, I can imagine some folk's eyeball's have started to melt, and a very big THANKS to those of you who have read this far. As a treat, here's a link to one of the things I love the most about Victoria... more about that later. Love this place! Cheers!