At the end of my last blog I predicted that life was about to return to its usual ‘manic pace’ which has turned out to be pretty accurate and is my primary excuse for posting two blogs at once..... The last couple of weeks have been (as my Canadian friends might say) ‘super busy’ memorable things I feel duty bound to report back to you include:
The use of hangman as a learning tool by our professor to stimulate a sleepy class of science students in to using the word prediction – we were clearly not on the ball that day.
Coming across three naked, cape wearing cyclists on the way to choir - I’m not quite sure of the who/what/why but it was amusing all the same.
Playing rugby in the snow.
Watching the Vancouver Canucks WIN (yes win - things are looking up in the world of ice hockey for these fans).
Turning twenty-two (I did indeed say memorable and can recount the entire evening and following day....)
The ‘rugby in the snow’ story is worthy of some elaboration: during the warm up it was raining – nothing unusual there Vancouver gets a lot of rain. At kick off the rain became slightly colder and within a few minutes we were running around chasing an odd shaped ball in the snow. Towards the end of the first half the pitch had a slightly Christmassy feel to it and many people’s fingers and toes started to lose feeling. The second half began and things were starting to get a little crunchy underfoot as the ground started to freeze. Twenty minutes later the ref called the game off for safety reasons as half the pitch was pretty much solid. I can’t say I was too upset by the decision; whilst I was relatively warm compared to others we were losing significantly enough to say there would be no ‘surprise comebacks.’ Unfortunately the premature end of the game meant that the changing rooms were occupied by the men’s team so we were left to change out of our wet and slightly frozen clothes at the bus stop. Classy ladies that we are.....
On the Saturday of that weekend I’d spent the day in Whistler where I was rather more appreciative of the snowfall. During the course of the day I met some incredibly chatty people on chairlifts; a couple from Aberdeen, family from the states, random guy from London and a Para-Olympian. I also had rather an extended lunch with some friends from UBC/Edinburgh in a bid to warm up before heading back out in to the snow.
My birthday was on the Monday and I celebrated with a few quiet drinks the night before in one of the pubs on campus and it was really nice to see lots of the people I’ve met over the last seven months all gathered in one place. The next day I decided to make the most of the snow and returned to Grouse Mountain. The last time I was there it was to complete the gruelling trail of 2,830 stairs to the summit. This time, the sky ride cable car transported my snowboard and I from the rainy city up in to the clouds. Before sunset visibility was rather limited and I found myself guessing where slopes went semi-successfully – I did have a small hike back up a hill having found myself heading off in a very wrong direction. Once it had got dark finding the trails became slightly easier and I played follow the floodlights down the mountain. The snow conditions were incredible, at 9.30pm I was making fresh tracks down the mountain and each time I got to the top of the chairlift I resembled a snowman having been immobile for a matter of minutes. I also narrowly avoided running over a couple of rabbits who decided that it was a good time to attempt to run across the slopes... All in all a pretty good way to spend my birthday!
Unfortunately it was back to reality (and the library) on the Tuesday - Always a joy.
