Victoria

I'll be damned if I'm going to write another massive blog so soon after clearing my travel backlog so I'm gonna keep on top of this trip as much as possible. The internet doesn't live where I live at the moment so the next few blogs are going to be opportunisitic.

I left the hostel in Vancouver yesterday morning after a giant breakfast and actually bordering on making friends (it wouldn't be right for me to actually have time to have friends, I just do the meeting then move on) and headed to Broadway with all my necessary possessions. I had to hand in my work shirts as I'd failed at doing that the day before and had plenty time so had an unnecessarily large lunch in Soup Etc! before catching the 98 B-Line to Airport Station where the bus to the Tsawwassen Ferries leaves from. That all went smoothly as did catching the ferry and the bus from Swartz Bay Ferry terminal to downtown Victoria. While on the ferry I saw a pod of seals (other correct collective nouns: bob, colony, crash, harem, heard, rookery, spring, team. You're welcome) swimming by, which was pretty cool.
I got into Victoria around 4pm and promptly found a place to get some tea (Demitasse- seemed nice) and the helpful boy there told me that the best place to watch the hockey was an English-style pub called Smiths, and continued to give me vague directions in his softly-spoken voice. Of course I promptly forgot these and had to ask a friendly George Hamilton clone in Blenz for directions. He was very helpful and let me look up his Yellow Pages for the address. I got there in time for the hockey and sat having an overpriced Strongbow and some fish and chips alone while I waited for my couch surfing host Bryan to finish work and come get me.
This he did and we met his friend (who's name I can't remember- I need to start listening) and headed to the University of Victoria campus to see a Swedish vampire movie called Låt Den Rätte Komma In (Let The Right One In) which was surprisingly awesome. I now pity, rather than fear, vampires. After that came a bus ride and a walk home to Bryan's house. (Bryan works in a brewery so everything I just detailed from when I met him was accompanied with cider.)
Bryan lives in the basement of a nice little house in an area called Strawberry Vale. It's kind of out of the way (i.e. not downtown) but there's a bus stop at the end of his street and I'm used to hour trips downtown so I'll probably manage.

This morning I woke up at a refreshing 9am, pleased to be able to sleep later than 7.30am and showered. I ventured out in the rain and caught the bus downtown. The bus stop that I got on at is right by a school and while on the bus a kid sat next to me and started talking about how he had a terrible day (he was about 12 and it was 11am), and could I give him $2 for some pop ("it doesn't even have to be a toonie, it can be quarters or loonies") which was kinda disturbing.
I had found out yesterday that Debbie and her parents and Debi were in Victoria so once I got downtown I met Debbie and Debi and we had some lunch and a brief browse of some shops. It's pissing with rain and I don't have an umbrella so I'm currently holed up in a coffee shop with free wireless, attempting to dry out and warm up before I venture outside again.
As soon as I had sat down in here a middle-aged guy looked at me and said hi. My default reaction here (maybe needs to change) is to say hi back which he took as some kinda invitation to discuss my lineage. To give him his dues he correctly guessed that I wasn't fully Scottish and had some English in there but any respect this warranted him was lost when he went on a racist/downright odd rant about how "our Scottish-saxon race" was "dwindling" because of dilution from the Indians (those I "must look out for"). He seemed shocked that this didn't bother me that much and I had absolutely no idea what he was on about so I said that it was a lot to take in. He then informed me that soon all the police in Scotland would know his name (Francis, FYI) and was on his way.

Going by events so far, I'm a bit concerned that two people have told me I'll love Victoria.

View from my seat on the ferry

The views got better as we passed the Gulf Islands and neared Vancouver Island (and I realised I didn't have to stay in my seat)

The slight splashes in water where the seals were

Debi and Debbie in Lady Marmalade, where we lunched.

Fan-Tan Alley (Diagon Alley?)

Anyway, I think I'll persevere and brave the rain to go explore some (umbrella) shops and maybe do some research into how the hell I get back to Snowdrop Street in Strawberry Vale. Clicking my heels together and repeating "there's no place like home" ought to do it by the sounds of things...