Expanding Horizons

I’m one of the girls. There I said it. After yesterday’s Mexican night I was not only stuffed with Jacinta’s awesome burritos and a lot of tequila but also, with being in the company of women for so long, quite a lot of oestrogen. But I even failed today.

My day was meant to be masculine, car shopping, gym, bike mechanics, beer and probably arm wrestling. I got as far as car shopping. Not buying because I realised I can’t stand obsequious car salesmen or sailor men at the sailor-ship as someone would have it. But maybe I’ve made a choice, or maybe not. I’m back on Monday to really make a choice.

Tomorrow it’s going to be hiking with a hungover Sophie!

Today was a day of two halves. A.M. was lazy. Spoke to my folks, spoke to Jessie, spoke some more to Jessie, unpacked a few boxes, laundry, emptied dishwasher etc etc.

This evening I went for a loop on my bike. Only one of my bikes here is rideable right now. Everything I shipped from the UK arrived on Wednesday and the bikes were semi-dismantled for packing so I’m still in the process of tuning number two. It was the Boardman Team Carbon that came out today. Got to hand it to Boardman and Halfords, it’s an amazing bike for the money, especially on the UK government “Ride-2-Work” scheme. The frame is really nice, OK components although I’m not sure about the SRAM double tap system. Shimano 105 and Ultegra on my Specialized seemed better but I’m still breaking it in so I’ll give the benefit of the doubt just now.

I rode a gorgeous loop from where I live, round a coastal point, along the beach roads and back. Not far, gps said just over 16k, but a couple of hills and some amazing views. I stopped to take some of it in.

I’ve had an unusual week. There’s probably more significant things happening in my life right now than ever and yet topics for blogs entries are difficult.

The guys who live next-door are using a circular saw to cut wooden braces to shaw up a bed in their ancient caravan in preparation for the Burning Man festival.

There’s a cat next to me called PeeWee and a lady upstairs who looks like Annie Lennox. Its strange how life changes.

People arrive and people leave.

Today I researched my options around cars, leasing, buying new, buying pre-owned, buying and importing and loans. I moved some finances over to boost my credit rating. I made an awesome salad, half of it cooked out on the BBQ and now I am watching a documentary on origami – Between the Folds – out on the front deck.

Life is nearly perfect.

Quicker than expected I think I’ve got a job! I’m not quite sure what I expected but when I landed in Vancouver three weeks ago, I didn’t think I’d have something by now .

I had an interview last Thursday, a second interview on the Friday and then went in for my third yesterday. There are the usual checks but if all the ducks are in a row then hopefully I start in a couple of weeks. I’m pretty pleased – its one less thing to stress about and it means my time here is not immediately limited by cash. It sounds like a good position in an interesting company and potentially with prospects. The office is in a great location, probably a ten minute cycle from where I am living and with some amazing views form the office. There is likely a bit of travel within Canada which is cool. The people I’ve met so far seem enthusiastic, professional and friendly. There isn’t much more I’m going to say about it. Its not guaranteed until I’m actually through the door and I likely won’t start for at least two weeks.

Now…..what to do with my two weeks off!?

Once you go Mac you never go back.  For me anyway.  I love my Mac and my Macbook Pro.  One thing I did lament leaving behind on my PC though was Image-Line’s FL Studio (formerly and still colloquially called FruityLoops).  It is a music production tool, sequencer, mixing desk, MIDI recorder, instrument, pretty much everything you need to make a tune.

Today Image-Line announced the release of a version for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.  I thought I’d seen a sequencer on one of Apple’s iPad adverts.  Well today I downloaded the version for my iPhone and I’ve got to say, I’m pretty impressed.  There is some serious thought seems to have gone into the UI on this.  Its a bold move to try to port something with even a fraction of the feature from FL on to an iPhone,  but it works.  I’ve only spent a couple of hours playing and I’m certainly no musician,  but its fun and its not fiddly or frustrating.  Many of the functions look and feel the same as the PC FL-Studio.  Its intuitive,  the Retina display makes it look awesome,  and it produces some interesting sounds for such a small gizmo.  And as it’s on special in the App Store right now,  I suggest having a look…. http://www.image-line.com/documents/news.php?entry_id=13073329

“Wherever you go there you are”.  A friend once gave me a book with this as the title.  Its a sort of introspective philosophy.  It tells us not to try to change our surroundings looking for something that is within us all the time.  When I was thinking about my move to Canada it was something that was in the back of my mind.

There’s a lot of use in the philosophy, but I don’t think its everything.  To take it as the be-all-and-end-all sort of assumes that “you” are static, and that you just need to look inside to understand the “real you”.  It encourages a meditative attitude.  But it can’t be everything.  If you take that to its logical conclusion you’d have to ask the question, “when do you become you?”.  It denies nurture or environment as a factor, or at least it denies that it has a necessary impact beyond a certain point of age or maturity.  If its proposition is that it is always true, then it is so naive to the human condition that it is a useful trinket for meditation but nothing more.

Maybe I am over-emphasising it.  Perhaps it should be qualified as ”Wherever you go there you are,  but at least they’re not and who knows,  it might be nicer”.

I should just add that moving to Canada has nothing to do with getting away from anyone before I give someone as complex!!  I’m much shallower than that.  I just love the outdoors and with only 33 million people in a country 41 times the size of the UK,  there’s a lot of outdoors!!

So here I finally am. Four years on after first applying for a Candian visa. Descending into Vancouver. Low cloud, 11 degrees and drizzling.

What a year it’s been so far. Leaving RBS, Norway with Jessica, Kenya, Tanzania and SA with Brad, getting to the top of Kilimanjaro, Spain, climbing in the Himalayas, renovating my flat and now a one way ticket to Canada. And that’s more, but that’s not for here.

I’ve been making a(nother) list while I’ve been flying of what needs to happen now. There are a few loose ends not tied up back in the UK that my brother is very kindly helping with. There’s my car to sell, there a bit of work left in the flat that might need doing and there’s still changing all my details etc. Still, to do the last part I need a place to stay first and that’s what my focus is going to be on when I finally land.

It’s a strange feeling that I can best describe as not one feeling but a mass of feelings. I’m excited, I’m nervous about the logistics, I’m overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I still have to do, I’m sad to be leaving Blackheath and the things and people I’ve become familiar with, I’m looking forward to starting a new chapter. For the first time, for now at least, the aircrew’s words, “For those of you arriving home”, applied to me somewhere not the UK.