Spin-Off

I'm creating a spin-off blog. Since my main focus lately is on photos, I've created a "photoblog" at aminus3. I'll keep updating this one from time to time, but I'll set up the photo blog to publish every day, with a mix of new and old photos. Check it out!

Hogtown

I've left Toronto. Toronto is a city in the fine tradition of cities with crazy contradictions. It seems so dynamic, and yet stultifyingly conformist and up-tight at the same time. Some areas have a real street presence, rare in Canada, with music, and food, and art and lots and lots of people from every corner of the Earth, all doing different things. But then there's the whole suburban mass, the signs warning of grave consequences for playing hockey in the street, the Eaton Centre, and the boring financial centre. Well, it could be a lot worse. lucky since half the people I know seem to move there at some point. I think I could actually enjoy Toronto quite a bit, especially if I got to know it.

Toronto!

I'm in Toronto, visiting long lost friends and conducting interviews. So far it's been a good trip. Why do I always seem to visit Toronto in winter? It'll be a shock to my system if I ever go in summer.

Winter in Canada

Remember how I said I like travelling in winter? Well I stand by it. Despite all the hoopla surrounding the cross-Canada storms I arrived in Ottawa on time to the minute. But the process was much more interesting than it would otherwise have been. And by more interesting, I simply mean slightly unusual, and therefore more than the droning bore it could be. The ferry ride from Vic was far choppier than usual, and they kept on giving announcements about how we should all sit down as much possible and be good. But I mostly wandered around on deck, watching the waves and acquiring an interesting new hairstyle. They wouldn't even let us go down to the buses before the ferry docked because of the rocking.

Westjet was cheery as usual, and operated exactly as expected. Other than the psychological shock, all that the blizzard meant was that I had to carry my suitcase a couple of blocks from the main road to my house through snow drifts. In fact everything was so punctual, my bags were first off the belt, minutes after arriving, that it really put some of my mid-summer-fair-weather flights to shame. (Remember those made up baggage efficiency stats at Brussels? ~85% on target... and that guy who told us about how they'd made up the targets?!) I'm continuing my record of bringing extreme weather events with me: apparently this was record for snowfall in Ottawa in December.

On the Island

I'm on the island now... a fabled, promised island, beyond the edge of the clouds. Let me tell you Vancouver: It's magical.

Au Revoir Vancouver

I'm getting out of the metropole, and heading out on a trans-Canada tour. First stop: Victoria. Then Ottawa, then Toronto, then Ottawa, and then possibly Montreal. Should be fun. I like traveling in winter for some reason. Even though it's dark and generally frought with delays, there's something very dynamic about the Christmas migrations.

Move: Done and Done

The institute has been moved. The new facilities are a big step up in my opinion; much brighter, lighter, bigger, fancier, and with a better view to boot. Just too bad that there's been so much bitching about it. This move once again proved the old adage that the most stressful events in life are divorce, death, and moving. I personally tried to stay out of it as much as possible, while still pitching in, on the assumption that these things tend to get worse and worse the more people are involved. Also, that recriminations are more or less inevitable no matter what you do, until the end when everyone forgives and forgets anyway.

Me gustó tomates

Pero los tomates cerca de aquí son harinosos. ¡Qué feo!

ludicrous on the drive

This coffee shop in one of the most pretentious places I've ever seen. It has absolutely nothing on the walls, no decor whatsoever. And every person in there is some variant of hipster typing away on an ibook, sipping latte, or at the very least reading the latest Chomsky. I laugh every time I see it. Usually it is the very opposite of cosy, but on this one occasion, when the windows steamed up and the lights came on, I was actually almost tempted to go in.

On hilltop glows winter's charm

As I said, it's winter. And for a while it looked like fun... tomorrow we anticipate a "pineapple express" to destroy it. But at least we have the mountains nearby to bring back the sweet, sweet memories. That and the hope that La Niña will deliver the promised harsh winter.

Winter in Vancouver

It's winter.