I am now living and working in Vancouver, in the last stretch of my time in Canada (can you believe it!).
Back in a desk-job!
I started work at Destination Funny three weeks ago, which began with unpacking boxes, cleaning out a smelly fridge and heaving filing cabinets around as they'd literally just moved into the new premises. Since then I've been doing other random tasks to do with getting the office up and running, vaguely getting electronic perfomer/show tracking documents ready for this year based on those from last year and generally just listening very hard to what is going on with Heather and Will, the directors. Most of it is still a mystery to me though.
Our office is in a refurbished old building where downtown meets Chinatown. The street behind my work is the infamous West Hastings Street: the poorest area in the whole of Canada, apparently. Oddly it's a very self-contained area: move one or two blocks in the right direction and you're back in urban downtown. Rob and I took a stroll through the area the day we arrived to find my office, and unwittingly wandered into the no-go zone. It was fairly terrifying, but to my relief we were pretty much ignored. The Hastings street characters do stray downtown though, mostly to collect bottles and cans to take to the depot (for $$$. It's a way of life). They roam the streets with their shopping trolleys, rummaging through dumpsters and sifting through residential recyling bins. There isn't a bin for bottles and cans, but general accepted practise is to leave them by the bins and they'll be gone in a matter of minutes.
Unbeknown to Heather and Will when they moved in to the building, our next door neighbours are an organisation helping to find regular jobs for sex trade workers. One member of staff is a mid-50s gentleman with large.... boobs (apparently he's had a sex change, but the boobs – impressive as they are – are seemingly the only actual physical change. It's very strange, but very entertaining).They operate a drop-in system as well, so our floor is often busy with questionably dressed colourful characters (male and female, and often surprisingly young or old) However before anyone starts to worry about me, it really doesn't feel unsafe. Really! Three weeks in and I'm getting used to it.
What happened in between
So backtracking a little, after we left Tofino on July 2nd, we spent a few relaxing days in Victoria, then on to Calgary for a few days with Andrew and Jen (my brother and his girlfriend). We watched the three-hour stampede parade through the centre of town, a proper rodeo – during which one of the cowboys was thrown from a bull in such a way he passed out instantaneously and landed like a sack of tatties on the ground, it was quite alarming – and drank beers in the famous Nashville North. It was extremely hot in Calgary and I got mauled by some bugs, but we had a lovely time and got looked after well.
We arrived in Vancouver on Sunday 8th July, where we stayed in a horribly hot and busy hostel with terrible cooking facilities (they heard all about it in my review form...) while I frantically searched for something a little more homely. We got lucky and found a sublet for the remainder of the month in Kitsilano, a delightfully likeable trendy but down-to-earth suburb, minutes walk from the beach. We were sharing with Jeff, a poker-loving protein-shake-drinking golf/volleyball/work-out fanatic with a little too much testosterone for either of us to really relate to, but who made a pleasant enough roomate.
Finding somewhere to live can be a full-time occupation
The search continued after only a short rest, as I still had to find somewhere for myself from when Rob left. It wasn't easy – I had to endure numerous disappointing viewings and popularity contests with other applicants. I fell for a 20th storey appartment downtown with stunning views, sharing with a bunch of French guys, but they clearly found someone they preferred as I didn't hear back from them. I was interviewed in depth by a girl who lived with her three cats in an appartment where the air was thick with cat hair – it was too disgusting for me to ever consider it. In the end, it worked out really well and here I am with Jody (young gay male) and Buster (big fat cat) on West Broadway. I'm still within easy walking distance of the beach and the house is a funky 2-storey place with a really homely feel. Toni owns the place and is off on her travels for a few months, leaving Jody in charge and me to cover the rent.
I'm a solo traveller once again
Rob left yesterday, the fateful long-awaited separation which will not see us reunited until I get myself to Brisbane. Provisional date for that is 28 December. There were lots of tears, it wasn't at all easy, but with the aid of the internet and determination we plan to keep things going until we can be together again. I'm going to be terribly lonely while I adjust to being on my own again, but I just have to get back into the swing of filling my time with random activities. Work will no doubt pick up beyond belief as the festival approaches anyway. I've already had 2 days off which Heather and Will say will be easily offset by the extra hours during the festival.
So you may hear from me a little more these days...!
