Well, the movers are here, packing up most of our stuff to ship, and I'm stuck in the back room with the cats and the laptop. The season has changed, imperceptibly yet suddenly in the way that summer always does turn to autumn. As I've said before, it is definitely time to go, but I also think it is about time I wrote a long-overdue love letter to Vancouver, my often spurned but always welcoming home of the last two years. So here, in no particular order, is what I'll miss:
The mountains: Cypress, Seymour, Grouse, The Lions, all visible from downtown.
People not shouting at their dogs, or their kids.
The water: False Creek, Burrard Inlet, the Pacific freaking Ocean.
The coffee: Hot, fresh, strong, usually refilled for free. The thought of Nescafe instant now churns me all up.
Never a pre-packed sandwich in sight.
The staff in my local Safeways: Big, kind, albino man, Regular man, Sparkly make-up square-jawed woman.
The buses: Always a nutter to talk to
The library: If they don't have the book you want, they will order it for you. Even if you're likely the only person that will ever want to take it out.
Fit people: Couldn't help noticing whilst in the UK and the US that there were an awful lot of pasty, lardy, cellulitey people parading around, often in not enough clothes. Here one's eyes are treated to great hotness most of the time, Vancouver having one of the lowest obesity rates in Canada.
Fit people who are lovely to not so-fit people, applauding their efforts and encouraging them every step of the way.
Cocktails with the girls.
The girls.
Our immediate neighbours.
Raccoons, skunks, eagles and bears.
Cheap, expert manicures & pedicures from scary Vietnamese women.
General niceness, helpfulness and positive attitudeness. There is a great deal of superficiality here, to be sure, but a lot of it is genuine too.
I'm sure Leamington Spa is going to be great, but I have a feeling that it won't do so well in a couple of these categories. (It's going to struggle to provide the Pacific Ocean, for a start, and I believe the Midlands to be slightly less than mountainous, as a general rule.)
§ ¶Shitting ItHere's a weird thing. Just wrote and then checked the previous blog entry, and for some reason seeing the penultimate sentence written down gave me my first real, adrenaline-accompanied "wow, we're really leaving" moment. It's bizarre how your mind can know something on a factual level but it takes time to be able to really feel it.
We both want to go back to the UK, and I definitely need to since I've never found anything much to actually do here, but it's still a scary prospect. It feels as if we've been here a long time and however much we may have complained about it, Vancouver is now more familiar than anywhere in Britain. We are voluntarily leaving what is for many people a dream destination and readjusting to 'home' is going to be challenging. I've said that sentence out loud a few times recently but again, this is the first time that I've genuinely felt it.
I expect the next few months are going to be what, if I were a Big Brother or other similar reality TV programme contestant, I would describe as a rollercoaster of emotions. I detest that phrase however, so let's just say there are some interesting times ahead. Frankly, I am shitting it, but this is a good thing. When I attempted to leave in the new year I didn't feel much at all until I reached baggage reclaim at Heathrow and I would so much rather do my shitting in advance, in my own home than in public, in a grey-painted anteroom of hell, to the accompaniment of squeaking luggage carousels and dazed, clueless new arrivals asking how much a taxi to London will cost.
On Thursday most of our stuff is being collected to be shipped back to the UK. Been spending the last couple of days sorting it out and working out what we can make do with for a month before we follow it. For some reason this new bareness and feeling of flux makes me happy, probably because it's so familiar. Quite exhausting, however; no time to upload Portland photos or write proper update till the weekend, I'm afraid.
Lost 1.6lbs last week, back on track again after slightly disappointing 0.4lbs the week before and my fattest 'fat' trousers are beginning to fall down - yay! Still bootcamping like a maniac. Dunno what I'm going to do in place of this back in the UK. The only similar things I remember ever seeing advertised in Surrey were run by ex-army bods - think joining one of these would be a bad idea as I do not react well to authoritah.
We're off to Seattle for a couple of days the weekend after this, and Catherine will also be here soon on a flying visit from Australia, so very excited. Determined to make the most of our final weeks in the Pacific Northwest, since we have pretty much failed to do so for two solid years like a pair of hopeless weiners. Ho hum.
This weekend, Will did his advanced diving course, or tried to. I, on the other hand, decided that I wasn't going to fart around the house like a muppet while he took two days to do this, so I went to Portland. Yes, Portland, Oregon, the United States of America, otherwise known as the Rose City - see dutiful photo from the International Rose Test Garden above.
Guess which one of us had a great time despite heavy airport security and which one encountered faulty valves causing drysuits to fill with water, multiple other divers at the dive site getting bent and having to be helicoptered away, and a rubbish buddy, meaning little actual diving was possible and the whole thing was a washout? Oops.
Am really tired, so will pick this up tomorrow. At the same time, hopefully I will remember to tell you all about the small fact that we are moving to Leamington Spa (England, not Oregon) at the end of September. They're coming to take the furniture for shipping on Thursday, so I'd better get a move on while I still have a desk from which to blog.
Peh. Still feeling bleary after a rude awakening at 6am the other day - stout fellows from the VPD canvassing the neighbours to see if we'd heard anything the night before at 1am, at which time our neighbours at the house opposite were suffering a home invasion. This is rather more scary than a burglary, traditionally committed by stealth whilst the residents are out; I don't know what level of violence was used on this occasion but it was sufficient to keep the police around for the whole day.
There have been increasing numbers of irritating/noisy/freaky people around the neighbourhood in the last few months, from the Mr Shitter Binner incident to a murder committed in the grounds of City Hall a few hundred feet away. This is one of the oldest areas in Vancouver and has traditionally been relatively quiet and sedate, but the times they are a'changin. Many local people seem to be attributing this to a program run by a nearby church which has courted controversy by expanding the numbers of homeless people it feeds without the proper permits or something. Posters were put up recently urging residents to attend a meeting to protest about the program and the people it is attracting. Such NIMBY-ism makes me angry so I didn't go, and I seriously doubt if clients of the church's outreach were responsible for anything as organised as a home invasion, which is what another neighbour unfortunately seems to think.
The fact is, Vancouver is expanding hugely, and with being a major city come the major problems of burgeoning population vs limited services, infrastructure and control. Home invasions are usually the premise of gangs - young, violent men with connections to drugs and guns, not the desperately poor who are prepared to stand in line to get a hot meal once a week. Yet no-one really wants to admit that beautiful Vancouver is going down this road. (Go to wikipedia and search for 'lotus land' to see the level of blinkeredness that exists around the issue.*) It is easier to blame the poor than to admit that the relentless drive to be a world class city is harming resindents' quality of life. In the two years I have been here, many, many houses and condos have been built, the roads are busier, public transit is fuller, grafitti has started to creep inwards from the suburbs and crime figures have gone up. Gang activity is on the increase and the city's terrible drug problems are no closer to being meaningfully addressed.
The real villains of the piece are from my neighbourhood, actually, but they work here rather than queue for food here. They're really nice people, mostly; one of them regularly has breakfast at the same time as me in a local cafe and another is quadriplegic. Not your average undesirables, but when were complex issues of social erosion ever as simple as being the fault of the scruffy guy who asks you for spare change for a coffee?
*Although to be fair, the article itself does address many of the points I have made here, under the heading 'social fabric'.
§ ¶I've lost the equivalent of the Pomeranian! (Surely only another few pounds to go and it'll be the equivalent of Nicole Richie.)
PHEEEWWWWWW! I was hugely nervous when I stepped on the scales at Weight Watchers this lunchtime. This was not helped by the guy weighing me looking very serious for a second, causing me to think I'd actually GAINED weight, before he announced, "four pounds, well done". I am so relieved; I knew I'd been very careful about what I ate this week but have also been suffering from premenstrual bloat (sorry, but I have!) for most of the week and was worried that this would skew the results.
So, am very pleased to be off to a decent start and would also like to say thank you very, very much to everyone who has kindly agreed to sponsor me in aid of the cat shelter. Your generosity is much appreciated and will stand me in inspirational stead later in the 8 week period when things get tougher. (For those, unlike me and probably most women living, who are not intimately acquainted with the science of healthy weight loss, the first week is always a higher loss as you lose some water too but this is not sustainable and 1-2 lbs a week is considered sensible and achievable thereafter. Don't be fooled by Celebrity Fit/Fat Club and their often massive weekly targets and losses: without amphetamines, surgery, a very low calorie diet or stupid amounts of exercise, that kind of crash weight loss is impossible, not to mention unhealthy, unless you are a monster fat monster overeater to begin with.
I must say I have eaten extraordinarily well this week and nobody needs to worry that I am starving myself. As anybody who has ever been around me when I haven't eaten for over 4 hours will know, I do not do the missing meals thing. I get shaky, grumpy and obsessed with finding food - being on a healthy diet actually helps me to balance my blood sugar a little better, through planning ahead, rather than encouraging me to skip meals.
So if you haven't agreed to sponsor me yet, please think about it again. If you're really too skint, absolutely fair enough, but if you have other reservations, (e.g. you think women dieting are always victims of a silly, media-fed obsession; you don't want to give to such a small organisation that is not local to you; you think I'll lose too much weight and end up costing you a fortune; you think I'll fail to lose any weight and will disappoint you/make a tit of myself; you fear I'll start asking you to sponsor me to unicycle to Saskatoon in aid of gently distressed elderly lesbian seagulls) please contact me and I will talk you out of them, um, I mean enter into a measured and meaningful debate about your concerns.
Similarly if you do mean to sponsor me but haven't got round to contacting me yet, you can do so via comments here or by email at kate at the name of this website minus the www, (i.e, elfpartsdotcom). It really is a good cause on both sides - Katie's Place really do need the money and I really do need to lose weight for health reasons and am enjoying doing so. Will has just walked in with a congratulatory card with a truly inspirational message that I must share with you, but it is a genuine Hallmark card and typing it out Could Take Some Time, so I will leave it for now and go and have dinner instead. Which is Asian Ginger Pineapple Glazed Tilapia, if anyone's interested. Yum for me and yay for the cats - perfect.
As you may know, those two fruitloops above are Buddy (orange) and Samson (Meezer), our two cats. We got them from a rescue centre all the way out in Maple Ridge in September last year. (And thank you once again to Mike for driving all the way back to Vancouver with a croaking Meezy and a shatteringly smelly I've-just-shat-in-my-basket Buddy in his car.) They are both FIV+, an immune system disorder very similar to HIV and were not in great condition when we got them, but are both now shiny of coat, happy of nature and slightly over of weight. The shelter, Katie's Place, is one of the few that will accept cats with FIV or other diseases that are not immediately detrimental to the cat's quality of life, if they are given the right treatment, which is why we chose them in the first place.
Katie's Place now needs to move. Their time is up at the accommodation they were using and although they have managed to sort out land and a portable building, they still desperately need funds to make it happen and continue looking after and feeding all the cats in their care. The place is entirely run by volunteers, who do a fabulous job. If I lived closer I would have volunteered myself, but Maple Ridge is nearly two hours away by bus. Will and I donated money when we adopted Buddy and Samson and have continued to give as much as we can since, but I would really like to do more.
Therefore, I have embarked upon a sponsored slim. Oh, yes. Having attended bootcamp religiously every weekday for a month, I have already gained muscle and lost body fat, but I still need to lose weight overall and now need to attend to my diet as much as my activity levels. Losing weight at a sensible rate, it will take me quite a long time to reach my ultimate goal; however, an initial 14-20lbs would be a great start and is eminently achievable in 8 weeks. 8 weeks is important because it is short, measurable and, whisper this quietly as it's not quite official yet so I can't broadcast all the details immediately but promise a full update soon, is also the approximate length of time we expect to continue living in Canada.
It would be very motivating for me if as many people as possible would agree to sponsor me, so please have a look at the links to Katie's Place website and their list of cats still needing a home then get out your wallet, check its capacity and email me (kate@ the name of this website without the www.) with your pledge. The amount is entirely up to you; a random suggestion from Will is 50 of your British pence or 1 of your Canadian dollars per pound, but please feel free to choose your own amount, either per pound or for the 8 weeks. At the end of the 8 weeks, money can either be donated directly via Katie's Place website or through me, but I would find it very helpful to know through advance pledges how much I am likely to raise. I will let you know how I am doing as I go along, in terms of both weekly weight loss and pledges.
In the interests of modesty (and shame) I do not propose to tell you how much I actually weigh at this stage, but in the interests of transparency I have joined the dreaded Weight Watchers and weighed in for the first time yesterday, Friday 4 August. I will attend the meeting and be weighed every Friday for the 8 weeks and my losses (hopefully) will therefore be recorded on an official card, which I will show to my discreet and trusted friend Ellen, who will then confirm at the end that I am indeed the amount lighter that I claim.
Please help me with this. I really care about Katie's Place and I also really wish to stop being such a lardarse. If you have ever seen a bunch of cats all crowded together, just desperate for a home and a little bit of love, you will know how I feel. Similarly, if you have ever turned away from a camera or bought yet another boring, respectable black tunic top because the sight of you in anything like a sleeveless vest top is too horrific to contemplate, I hope you will empathise. Even if you're not keen on cats and have no idea how it feels to be overweight, please be generous. I'll never ask for anything else, honest. And if I lose at least 14lbs (1 of ye olde English stone) I will post an actual photo of my actual self, looking hot as hell, on my own website. What more could you ask for?
Been quiet recently due to knackeration. It's my fourth week of bootcamp and I've been making muscles like nobody's business. Slightly overdid it yesterday, however, when I tried a spinning class. I actually enjoyed the huffing, puffing and monsoonlike deluges of sweat, but not the searing pain from angering an old injury. A long time ago, in a field near Norwich one night, I sat down hard (or something, can't really remember - lots of cheap, student-standard beer involved) and did a mischief to my coccyx, or tailbone. After about a week of quite severe pain I went to the doctor but discovered that the treatment for coccyx pain is pretty diabolical, not to mention embarrassing, so I just hoped it would go away.
It did, mostly, although sitting for long periods on hard chairs is still painful. Following yesterday's class, sitting on a bus seat for 10 minutes is beyond me, but guess what treatment plan I'm following? That's right, the 'let's hope it goes away' ostrich approach. Having an external body massage can be somewhat discomfiting, but an internal one? Eeep. Too many memories of having to take my dog to the vet to get his anal glands emptied.