Time to leave Vancouver again - another return on the cards this year?? Very possible!I didn’t really get to do much this week as the weather’s been so bad. But of course, I won’t let a few drop of rains (bucketloads, in fact) stop me from enjoying myself. Juts very thankful that the sun was out on most days last month, which meant I didn’t really need to do any touristy things this time round.

Of course, I was here for work too, though that lasted all of 50 minutes for a business meeting. Thereafter, I headed straight for the bubble tea rooms and a visit to the Bay shop to look at some clothes and kitchenware. Well, it’s not as if I have anything left to do here!
I had hoped to lie on the beach a bit but with the rain and the cloud, that sounds like a silly thing to do. So instead, it’s been shopping, more shopping, and more shopping.

It’s quite amazing how one can go to the same shops day after day, looking at the same thing, deciding whether to purchase it or not. It’s a luxury you have when time is on your side or when you’ve run out of things to do.

But as an easily-bored person, Vancouver can really test one’s patience. There’s only as many shops that one can visit and evenings can only be spent on doing one thing to kill time - playing mahjong. And so far this week, I’m already 90 dollars down - that’s roughly £45, losing almost all of it to my grandmother. That, I’m afriad, is about as exciting as my life gets this time round in Vancouver.

Well, that’s not technically true, but I suppose enough people know who Tim Henman is here in Canada, with a few of them actually bothering to track his (yet again ill-fated) progress at Wimbledon. A picture of his epic victory against Carlos Moya adorned the inner pages of the Vancouver Sun the other day, with live coverage of his twilight encounter with the fomer world number one on the local sports network the other morning. A meeting with a client confirmed his appeal to the people here in that, he’s British and is part of the Commonwealth, and therefore garners Canadian supprt.

That’s in contrast to Greg Rusedski who, as Canadian, left these shores to become British through his Yorkshire mother. They still ahven’t forgiven him for that over here. Or Lennox Lewis, for that matter!

I still can’t quite believe that I am sitting in this Korean internet cafe writing travelogues again. Three weeks ago, I vowed never to set foot in this particular shop again until at least 2010 (the Winter Olympics) only to reappear again so soon afterwards. To be honest, I can’t believe I’m in Vancouver again full-stop. Well, it was inevitable the moment I knew I was going to Toronto for work, and a detour to the west coast was (always) on the cards - or at least I made sure it was anyway.

It turns out that I can meet a client in downtown this week so it’s not such a wasted trip. It’s certainly great to see my grandparents again, and pleased to be surrounded by more good food. On that theme, I’ve decided to revise my opinions on Toronto, a day after leaving the the place. Although I don’t think much of it, it is simply the best place for food that i’ve ever been to in the world. I’ll go into detail another time but honestly, I can’t think of a place which offers so many choices of ethnic food and at prices which make Vancouver look expensive. You know what, I might even go there again - if only to eat and as a gateway to Montreal.

Raining heavily here in Vancouver - so updates later this week when I’ve done more. For now, it’s all about relaxation and more food until the client’s meeting a few days from now.