Friday, July 28, 2006

Big Ben!

People laugh and joke saying "ha-ha 25 is no age", "If I knew then what I know now" and other such fluff, while really turning to their companion and muttering "he can't be 25 he looks so much older!"

Well I make up for that with my 'enthusiastic amateur' attitude towards life that defies the care warn lines on my brow, slight graying of the hair, and keeps me feeling young on the inside.
It's true that when I look down I no longer see a six pack: it's been replaced with a barrel! And hangovers are brought on by sips too many, not pints. The only regression I'm having to the early days of my youth, is that I'm going to bed early again!

More irrefutable proof, if it was needed, that I have long since been cute, comes from the next generation.

Start cooing and ahhhhh-ing for this Nextquestion exclusive. Ladies and Gentlemen, I am proud to introduce Benjamin Milton Douglas Russell. He's 14 weeks old!

Son of Helen and Greg. So much part of our family history I can never remember if we're actually related or not.


Ben is modeling a T-shirt, we got him in Alaska, and a beautiful pair of big brown eyes.

Obviously being 5000 miles away I have yet to meet Ben himself, but my sister talks of nothing else. He's already more popular in my office than I am!!

I'll be back soon to pass on some of the knowledge I have accumulated. Someone else will have to do the whole women talk, I wouldn't mind sitting in on that actually. I would be delighted however, to teach young Ben the Glories of Rugby Union!

Monday, July 24, 2006

A load of Bulls!

It was a fine summers day as I left Kitsilano beach on June 25th to pick up my Mother and Sister from the airport. They did much better than Dad getting through immigration and customs. Laura attributes this to her sweet smile, but I think it has more to do with her terrifying temper.

It had been a long day for both of them, so we started of their Canadian odyssey wondering had it really been 9 months since we had last seen each other, and walking around English Bay. In the evening we went to the Boathouse restaurant which has stunning views over English bay, great food, only matched by a very well chosen wine menu.

Next day the girls had managed to defy the jetlag and get a solid nights sleep. First things first, I wont all the way back over to English bay to bring then into downtown. First port of call was the Harbor Centre. The Harbor Centre is a big tower which has a viewing deck at the top. You can see Mt Rainier and baker, in Washington state, all the way from up there.

Next it was a brief pit-stop in Gastown for a coffee, and Laura (Girlfriend not sister). She joined us and introduced herself to Mum and Laura. I already know her. She made a very good first impression. After that it was a bit shaky (Just kidding Laura Z)

After that, it was back to my swinging bachelor pad in Kits. Our good intentions to clean up and make our place look half respectable for Mum, somehow failed to materialise. Never mind.
The afternoon consisted of a walk down to Kits beach and then onto Granville Island, for some shopping and Dinner at Bridges with Ian.

To cut a long story short, next day we went to Grouse mountain. It was at this point that I decided to bring my camera along, so I can allow some of the pictures to do the talking for me. It was a blisteringly hot day with snow still all around us. The highlight had to be the two Grizzly bears Koola and Grinder, and the world famous Lumberjack show.

Next day we went off to Stanley park and the aquarium. This is always a fun place, although I did manage to fall asleep during the whale show (In my defence, It was the forth time I had seen it). That evening we had a BBQ at ours, but as we were heading off on our Rockies tour first thing the next morning, I was booked a room for the night in the Coast Plaza Hotel.

I like to think that the first hotel would set the standard for the rest of the holiday. The problem was, because I had got there so late, I didn't have a chance to take full advantage of the two person Jacuzzi in my room. However, the three person bed was very comfortable and a good night rest was had.

Next morning we awoke to go for breakfast on the 36th floor. Beautiful views over English Bay and plenty of sausages got us off to a great start. It was here that we first met up with our co travelers, whom we would be spending the next 11 days. A sprinkling of Americans, Canadians and Kiwi's were out numbered by a mass of Australians. Most of which were, delightful, funny and sound, and just a couple had my mind racing back to the first season of Kath and Kim. Alto we were introduced more formally, to our guide Claudio, and our driver Steve.

We started our journey up through a town called Hope (RIP Gene Pitney), and then to our first layover at Lac Le Jeune. Le Jeune in in the middle of nowhere. Populated by bears and sea creatures, Loonies and the occasional Hotelier. We were nor allowed TV's in our room because the power supply is very limited to the middle of nowhere. However, the best thing about this hotel, and any other hotel we stayed in, was the food. It was sublime. Dinner and breakfast alone gained me half a stone. And I don't care!

Next day we were off to Jasper, in our first national park. Jasper was a fun place and all geared up to celebrate Canada day. I was in dire need of a cheer up as England had just been knocked out of the World Cup, by some cheating Manchester United player. I will not even have by blog bear my name.

It was in Jasper that I did the Edith Cavelle glacier walk, which was fun and very informative.

Next we went on to Banff. We stayed here for two nights as well. Banff was a really nice town. I remember that a lot of Bunacers went there for the ski season. I bumped into one while I was shopping. I had completely forgotten her name, and being to polite to ask what it was, I never found out. Mind you I don't think she remembered what mine was either.

It was from Banff that we took the Glacier tour. We took what looked like a moon bus up to the top of the glacier and were allowed to go out and have a look around. The view was something quite spectacular. After another talk about glaciers, I am quite an expert now.

It all starts getting blurry at this point, but I think the next stop was Kamloops. It rained. The End!

We hit the road once again to go to Whistler. We arrived at 6 pm and had to leave early the next morning. We did a quick rush around the shops and had a good meal but there wasn't time to explore in great detail sadly.

After our overnight stop in Whistler, we darted off to Victoria. I really liked Victoria. I had been in the winter with Dad, but in the summer it comes alive. This was also our opportunity to go whale watching. We went out in a fairly decent sized boat and powered for about 1hour 30mins until we got to the whale area where the families lived. It was a beautiful day, without a cloud in the sky. We saw plenty of whales and a much rarer sea otter, swimming on it's back, playing in the sun. They were very near extinction at one point.

We did quite a bit of shopping in Victoria, we also enjoyed the night air and beautiful Empress Hotel, and Parliament buildings that overlook the bay.

Back to Vancouver where I spent another night in a hotel after returning to the Boathouse with Ian and Laura for dinner. Up again we were, nice and early for the start of our Alaskan Cruise on the Norwegian Wind.

We boarded the impressive ship at about 1pm. We had a quick mooch about the deck, pools casino, shops and theatre as we waited for our baggage. I was a little uneasy about how I would feel about being confined to a ship for a whole week. After 24 hours of luxury, food and alcohol, I wondered how I had ever led a normal life before this point. It was heaven.

So what did I do to pass the time. Well what any well balanced family would do on such an occasion. We HIT THE SLOTS BABY! Yes we gambled on the 5 cent slots. We started of with $3 each and ended off with about $60. We re-invested all that in the ships bingo tournament and lost the lot. Never mind!

I also spent a lot of time perfecting my golf swing in the on board driving range. The boat was a dream. We swam in the pool, ate at all the different restaurants, read, slept, gambled, ate more etc.

It was my Birthday for the formal night, so the three Bull, got dressed up in their fancy attire and hit the one restaurant that had a cover charge. We ordered a bottle of champagne, courtesy of my little sister and enjoyed a splendid meal and generally enjoyed the evening in each others company.

We had three ports of call in Alaska. They were Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. All three towns were pretty similar. They looked Alaskan, had wooden sidewalks, lots of bars, and was only open for half of the year. They had far to many jewelry shops for pure authenticity, but hey ho. We tended to get off the boat and then mooch around as my Sister would systematically tear through the shops which had been stupid enough to give her a money off voucher or offer her free stuff. As a student fresh out of Uni, she still has that mean fighting penny pinching quality, that is lost on the more refined or lazy people like me.

Skagway was a bit different. I decided to go on a little excursion at Skagway. I was driven back into Canada through the Yukon and spent the day canoeing and horseback riding. This was great fun, especially the horse riding, as it gave me a real pioneer spirit feeling, riding through the mountains as if it was Montana. It was superb. The only thing that would have made it better is if they'd have let me wear my cowboy hat, instead of a tired old cycling helmet.
The last three days were spent on the boat traveling back down from the glacier fields, down the back passage and back to Vancouver. The scenery was breath taking, with the ice bergs and the whales making periodic guest appearances.

Thank you to mum and Laura for having me along, it was great seeing you, and a posthumous thank you to Aunty Pat, who helped fund this escapade. We did you proud!

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Birthday Surprise!

No I know all of you are chomping at the bit so see some of the majestic photos from my trip, but I have run into yet another slight snag. The silly e-mail station at work won't let me use my CD which has my photos burned onto it, to upload. Therefore I'm a bit stuck until I get to an internet cafe. It will almost certainly have to be tomorrow evening. But they are good, so stay tuned for that.

Therefore in the meantime, I have some photos from yesterdays suprise birthday party in the production room to share.

Lisa, had the camera, as I entered my little office to get the day underway. You have no need to imagine my suprise, as the moment is here in full colour for you.
No wonder I look suprised, my birthday was a week ago.
My card signed by the office.
I opened my present. It made a big clanging noise as Lisa lifted it. Could it be BEER!!!! How did they know!!
Spookey! Notice the baloons and banners in the background. I work with some very sweet people.
Ok folks, don't panic Paul, I will get my photos up soon, I don't have internet at my work desk or in my house like some. Plus, thank you Mrs Banks for your best wishes.
TTFN.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Bull returns to the crease, 25 not out!

Yes dear readers, I'm back. I have just transfered all my pics from my three week holiday with Mum and Sis onto cd for your viewing pleasure, just send $25 + p&p...........!

I'll post some as soon as I get a chance. Probably tomorrow. I have quite a few, so some liberal editing is in order I think.

By the title of the post, you may have guessed, I had my 25th birthday (on the 10th). Thank all you Bunacer's and people at home who sent me a card (I didn't really want to say anything, but when I opened my cards, they were full of best wishes, but no cheque or $20 bill in sight. Must be some sort of mistake)

Thanks also to my friends at work, who threw me a little suprise gathering this morning when I got in. Many thanks for the beer. I still can't believe how you knew I love beer. You must be mind readers.

Ok break over. Until tomorrow dear readers,

Andy xxx