Blogging from the West Coast

Out in very sunny Vancouver. Pretty. Lots of water and mountains...plus some very tall buildings. Actually the buildings looked a bit of a mess as we drove in from the airport. Then, walking around earlier, I found out that's cos a few of them are still being built....waterfront properties. Dread to think how much they're going for!

Luckily the flight was a LOT better than the eventful journey to New Jersey. Only minor hiccup was when the driver dropped me at Terminal 2 (Toronto) only for me to find that I was leaving from Terminal 1....fantastic!!! Luckily there was a shuttle bus to take me round. I'm not sure if I was meant to pay but I "slipped" in through the back door dragging my far-too-heavy case and plonked myself down.....have a feeling that was not the thing to do but I was gonna claim ignorance being a Brit in a strange country!!!!! And on that note....got into Canada without giving up my I-94....yayyyy. That should make it easier getting back in to the US.

Joe, my driver, was telling me about some guy that he had to drive from the Hyatt in Buff to Toronto. They got to the Peace Bridge and the guy remembers that he left his passport and wallet in the hotel. This was as they reached Canadian customs. Of course he couldn't get into Canada but, instead, had to fill out a long form that took about 40 minutes. Then they were allowed to turn round and head back to the US side....only problem was that then he couldn't enter the US!!!! Another long form followed. Then Joe decided that he would take the guy's room key (which he'd forgotten to hand in....you get the idea about this jerk, don't you!)....and drive back to the Hyatt. He gets there and the maid is cleaning the room. Luckily she hadn't got as far as moving the wallet so Joe grabs it and heads back to the Peace Bridge, rescues the guy and then go back to Canadian customs...where they're met by the same woman they had the first time around.

Hearing stories like that makes me feel so much better. I may do stupid things like forgetting to take deodorant with me but at least I ALWAYS remember my passport and wallet...after all, if you've got those you can travel anywhere and buy whatever you forget....

Anyway, now my back hurts (blame the suitcase) and I'm still on Buffalo time so I think I might head to bed....a very lovely kingsize that's been turned down for me. Four Seasons in case you were curious. Very nice but I'm gonna have to call them in the morning and ask for a coffee maker....although I do have the mini-bar to keep me company til then!

Bon Nuit!

Vancouver.....

Rain

Didn't realise that planes don't fly when it's raining. Or maybe it's just US Air...also known as the airline from hell. Last time I flew with them I seem to remember it took me something like 6 hours to get from Boston to NYC...in which time I could have crossed the Atlantic. Think that was why I decided never to use them again...until the other day......bad move!

This week I was trying to get from Buffalo to New Jersey. For some reason there were no flights back on any airline so, instead of the flying to Newark, I had to go to La Guardia (known as the airport from hell)....on the airline from hell. It was raining...not that much I thought...but enough to extend my journey by over an hour. Turned up at the office and my boss looks and me and asks "what happened to you?" Err...I don't really know other than we landed an hour late....having taken off only 15 minutes late. To be honest I was asleep for much of the flight so I really don't know what happened. I also swore that I'd never fly in/out of LG anymore....I do wish I'd remember these things!!!!!! Doesn't seem to matter what the weather is but, unless there's blue sky and sunshine, nothing ever arrives in LG on time. What is it with them?

Journey home wasn't much better. Initially I'd been going down for a day. Then we extended it for an overnight stay. Then we debated whether I should stay down there for another day...which I probably would have done if it hadn't been for the fact that there were no flights out of any of the three airports on any airlline until the weekend. Why are people trying to escape NYC???? Actually, don't answer that....I can imagine why! So we stuck with the second plan. Limo turned up to drive me to airport from hell. And guess wot! There were three accidents on the way to the airport....so instead of a 40 minute journey, it took an hour and a half. Arrived there after I was meant to be boarding but....thanks to the airline from hell....you got it...the flight was late! I tell you, it was so good to be back in Buffalo...where the sun was almost shining (too late in the day) and it was dry. NYC is not nice when it's raining and it was doing some spectacularly good pouring of water last week....YUK!

Restarted my Spanish lessons yesterday. There were 4 of us in the class so we all got lots of attention. My Spanish name is Juanita. Wondered how he was gonna cope with the "J"...Hoanna is not really something I like...especially when it gets shortened! I didn't do too badly considering it's been a while since I've really had any classes. Talked about la media luna...esta en el cielo con las estrellas....and direct object pronouns (lo, la, los, las). Then we tried to work through an exercise where we had to respond to questions negatively and replace the object with a pronoun. That got very amusing. I learned European Spanish originally and this is Latin American so there are some interesting differences....such as Latinos don't use "vosotros"...the plural formal for "you". Meant to be easier as there are less verb endings to learn....hablo, hablas, habla, hablamos, hablais, hablan...becomes hablo, hablas, habla, hablamos, hablan....so you only need to remember 5 instead of 6 but old habits die hard....plus it's more symmetrical with the 6 in there....ho hum. We got in a real mess with one question that even he couldn't answer....oh yes, we always have problems with this one. Errr.....that didn't inspire me...but the rest of it was great (plus he fed us!).

Anyway, 3 hours later, I felt pretty good about it, especially as there was a woman there who's been studying with him for a while but strikes me as being pretty thick!!!!!! Won't be able to go next week, as I'll be out in Vancouver (another damn flight!). :-(

Now going back to finish the Matrix trilogy. I've decided that Reloaded is actually better than the first episode......

Here's an interesting thought...

are Blogs admissable as evidence in court???

The reason I'm asking is that I've just been to see my lawyer about the accident. He's asking me all these questions about things I can't really remember that clearly. So when I got home I sat down and read through my blog to refresh my memory. And then I thought, hey, why not just print out the relevant sections for him and he can review them. That's what I've spent the last hour doing. Wonder if he'll appreciate it? It's so good that, when I had my bad back days, I complained on here about them...it gives him an indication of how bad I was after falling downstairs compared to the car accident. Will it help? Who knows but it's worth a shot.......was good to see that I did a lot of dancing between the stairs and the car....one of the things he wants to be able to show is that I was fully recovered from falling before being hit.......hmmmmmm.......

Yoga

Damn. I wasn't going to go. Been really sleepy all day..think it was the clocks turning forward that messed me up. My body doesn't know I've lost an hour and it doesn't like being roused from slumber when it's still dark out. Anyway, I had all my stuff with me at work so I thought I'd make the effort and go. Wish I hadn't. Kerry wasn't there (not sure why, travelling maybe?). So Tony took the class and, as usual, we did far too many Sun Salutations and forward bends. I do wish he would change his routine....he's taught the same class at Levels 2 and 3....put some variety in there please!!!!!!!