jet lag (not a new japanese film star)

yes, well was up at quarter to five in the morning - and i have to say, what a lovely day - where was all the snow? - sun was just about shining, and a massive 12 degrees during the day. marvelous.

so todays project is to check out town and see what the score is about getting a pc. went in to the equivalent of dixons, some place called 'the source' - might as well have asked the cat - matey didn't have a scooby, and the stuff was overpriced and quite basic to be honest. same with another shop, so it was off to another mall to this 'future shop' which is a bit more like comet, after a coffee in the food court.
so get to this 'future shop' after a 15 minute bus ride - a huge place virtually the size of a football pitch - however, still not a lot write home about as regards getting a cheap and half way decent pc.
so, made a few mental notes, then back on the bus back to town.
one last place to check out tomorrow, and its either that, or get a dell pc and pay a fortune for postage.
not a great deal on the telly, aside from an episode of 'house' to fall asleep to. bit cream crack'd since it would be about half 4 in the morning by my reckoning.
thank you and good night.

arrived in canada

yes, so managed to get on the plane with me standby ticket.
a nice window seat right next to the gents. how choice.

couple of films on the plane, 'walk the line' and 'aeon flux' but not really watchable on a screen no bigger than a telly right down the front. honestly, i cannot believe that air canada doesn't have those mini tv screens on the back of the seats in front of you - whats that all about.
food on the plane not up to much, pizza tossed at you at 2 in the morning is not quite what one would expect from a national airline. and asking for a tea, you get presented with this grey coloured luke warm stuff - they haven't got a clue. and also, how come the steward(esses) were all members of the saga holidays club - no cheeky little trolley dollys on air canada...

anyway, so survived the flight, and queued up to go through immigration - 20 questions by some jumped up muppet scutinising me passport - give them a uniform and they think they run the place. mind you, i think they are armed, so probably best not to play up...

yeah, so get the luggage and give my form to customs man who waves me through and then out to the mighty ottawa.

no snow, and actually quite mild, which is not quite what i expected.
anyway, so decide to try the bus, and not go with a 35 dollar cab ride.
bus costs a total of $1.95, bit of a result - or so i thought...
after a small coffee and a johnny cash, queue up at platform 14 for the bus with my 2 cases, hand luggage, and worn out debenhams bag with 400 b&h and a copy of the sun in.
struggle to get on the bus, and have 20 minute conversation with bus driver as to where i should change buses and which one to get. unfortunately my mandarin was a little rusty and i am not talking about citrus fruits, so communication was a tad tricky. that said, i did get the general jist of the conversation, and he stopped the bus at the right place.
so i walked through the shopping precinct with luggage, and caught another bus from the bus stop outside the precinct. not the most salubrious of places to catch a bus, but at least it stops virtually outside the apartment.

and all for $1.95, so can't be bad.

so, eventually get to the flat - place quite literally looked like a bomb had dropped. either that or was in the middle of the big brother house.
sod all to eat, however managed to find a teabag for a cup of darjeeling, some brown bread with bits in, some margarine and some philadelphia extra light cheese spread. delicious and nutricious.
shame that i had left 4 packets of rich tea and 2 packets of penguins back in uk. marvelous.
anyway, now the equivalent of 3 in the morning, so all v. tired.
let us see what tomorrow brings.


a packet of malted milk and some pg tips would be a nice touch

1 day to go

yes, so offski tomorrow, and still need to finish off the packing.
alas, only allowed 23kilos per case, not 30kilos as before - so might have to leave a few bits and pieces behind.

hmmm and watching the wright stuff on channel 5 right now. going to miss hearing an english accent...

right well better press on - need to get some stuff for the journey, not least a magazine or two, bottle of water and a packet of biscuits.

marvelous.

T minus 4 days

yes, well only a few days to go, and then its game on for canada part 2
sorting the flat out - deciding what to take and all that sort of stuff.

currently have firefly on in the background, which is actually quite funny, but not really watching it - lots of washing up beckons.

was going to get a hair cut, but couldn't be bothered queueing up for an hour in supercuts, with fagash lil and some old dear who quite literally did have a face like a slapped a*se.
what's that all about.