nearlyhere

It’s been a pretty action-packed few days. Rachel, a good freind of Fiona (Lauras cousin) has generously put us up in the spare room of her apartment in Downtown Vancouver. Laura has been basically confined to her bed since we got here – poor old sausage, you should see the stack of pills and potions she’s accumulated already – and we’ve delayed our departure to the Island to give her some time to recover. I’ve managed to get a few chores done on foot, like organising health care, a drivers license and obtaining a Social Insurance Number, which was a nice way to acquaint myself with the city.

Vancouver is bustling and we’re in the thick of it here, on the junction of two busy streets in a thriving shopping precinct. It’s an exciting location, but it can become fairly rowdy around these parts when the bars get going. A bit of noise is a small price to pay though; the beautiful Stanley park is about 20 minutes walk away and there is an amazing but pricey organic supermarket just down the road, and some other vege stores and a place to buy liquor nearby. To top it off, the building we’re in has a sunny roof garden with lots of outdoor furniture, Vege plots and composting bins. Apparently though, good coffee is hard to find around here; unless you buy the beans and make your own, the two Starbucks on opposite corners of the nearby intersection are the safest bet.

It looks like we’re off to Victoria today; we’ll throw ourselves and our stuff on a bus and catch the ferry accoss the harbour, where Fionas boyfreind will pick us up… almost there. We will stay with them for a night or two – hopefully we can move into our flat a little ahead of time, then we can buy a bed and get cracking on that nick-nac shelf we’ve always dreamed of.