O Canidae!

[lupestripe]

So we made it back to the UK and to bright sunshine too, which was a rarity. Due to the nature of time zones, I didn't sleep at all on Saturday night and ended up forcing myself to stay awake for thirty hours straight to get back to British time. Consequently I went to bed at 9.30pm on Sunday night, thinking twelve hours sleep would do me for Monday work. Wrong. I woke up at 6am, couldn't get back to sleep and was tired as hell yesterday. In all honesty, I still haven't caught up.

Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving, something of which I was unaware until I arrived in Canada. Had I known I would have extended the stay as leaving on Thanksgiving weekend felt like leaving a party prematurely. The weather was uncharacteristically warm and sunny - we had two weeks of continual sunshine and temperatures in the high teens, unheard of for early autumn - and walking around Granville Island on Saturday morning before we took our flight further emphasised the holiday experience.

We hadn't done the Island justice on Thursday so returned and met up with Univaded and Renniefox, a Thai fur living in Vancouver. Unfortunately due to the perils of check-out and broken luggage, we were an hour late but they kindly waited for us and soon we were tucking into fish and chips looking over False Creek amidst the impressive backdrop of the city skyline and Granville Bridge. Due to the British influence, fish and chips are very popular here and cooked to perfection as they would be back home. The only peril was avoiding the ravenous and impatient seagulls, a feat which is also necessary on any beach in the UK.

The centrepiece of the Island are the two food markets, with a range of independent stores selling all manner of food. The chutney stand was a particular favourite of Wolfie's while I enjoyed the hustle and bustle, not to mention the life, that a Market invokes. We also walked around the range of specialist stores dotted in the warehouses that used to make up this industrial region. Indeed only one industry remains on the island - a concrete factory which is still in operation. So we learned a great deal about making concrete too, lately through the mechanical exhibit stationed outside the plant that used cogs, balls, chains and gravity to detail the whole process.

Shortly after this, we went to the Granville Island Brewery. Founded in 1984, this is the most famous and ubiquitous small brewery in Vancouver. With time running out, we decides to forgo the tour - we have done so many brewery tours in our lives - and opted for the tasting session in their on-site brewery. We could only sample three beers per person due to licensing restrictions but between us we grabbed them all and very high quality they were too.

We needed to head off to Trapa's house after this as this is nearer the airport and where we had left our luggage. We kindly got dropped off by Univaded and were delighted to discover three other furs present in his front room working on a designed piece of clothing for a fursuiter. Trapa wanted our design help so for the next hour or so we made suggestions and helped design the shape and look of the clothing using gorgeously smelling marker pens, sticky tape and mountains of card to ensure the shape was just right. I has never done anything like this before and had dismissed my capabilities at anything hands-on but I surprised myself with my own suggestions and ability to resolve the aesthetic problems we had. I like to think I contributed positively to the meeting, indeed resolving one particularly tricky problem.

With an hour to go, the five of us headed to local restaurant The Cactus Tree for an overpriced butter and some brilliant conversation. We had wanted to go to a pasta restsurant further out of town but correctly figured time was against us. Then sadly it was time to go so Trapa drove us to the Sky Train and bid us farewell, thus ending our Canadian affair.

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Comments

[skawinski.livejournal.com]

British influence...I hope they don't do mushy peas over there :D

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

Yum! Though, I actually use chickpeas, mashed up, with some balsamic vinegar, sugar, and pepper. =:9

[skawinski.livejournal.com]

Chickpeas are ok, that way they're more hummus, which is one of my personal faves! Mushy peas, on the other hand, are a no no for me for several reasons, but maybe I just need to sample the genuine kind (my first ones were canned).

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

Ooh you can't judge mushy peas on the canned variety - you definitely need them fresh. And gungey.

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

Trapa drove us to the Sky Train

YOU TOOK THE GALAXY EXPRESS 999?

Daaaamn. =:D

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

;)

[univaded-fox.livejournal.com]

It was my pleasure being your guide four times over, and I hope to do so another forty times at least! We won’t soon meet again. So it’s just ta-ta-fur-now! *hugs*

[lupestripe.livejournal.com]

It was great seeing you and thanks for your wonderful hospitality - we had a great time :)