Look....

Here's a picture of me in a tie, it doesn't happen often (I had to buy new ties to take to Canada)...



Also here's one of me, er, well it's self explanatory I think...

Festival of virgins....

OK, maybe not (although that might be interesting....), but on my last day in Toronto we went to the 1st annual (bit presumptious I think) Virgin Music Festival on Centre Island. Obviously being the 1st there was a slow take-up on the tickets (they were still on sale on the day) which maybe never happens in this country any more, but the line-up was pretty good.

The queuing system to get on the boat was pretty funny. Basically we were all bunched up together and then walked slowly in 10 metre blocks until we were about 20 meteres away from the security checking bags etc. We were then allowed to go 5 people at a time, but was based on trust, and everyone was so civilised. Once we got to the security though they weren't exactly the most thorough in checking the bags. In fact, my check went something like this: -

Me : "Do you want to look in my bag"
Security : "Have you got any recording equipment in there?"
Me : "Nope"
Security : "Off you go"

We got there for kick-off (which was around 12) although obviously the organisation wasn't quite honed as they were still setting up. We found out later that three of the crew boats had capsized on the way, which is quite scary really. The weather had been quite wet and the grass was quite damp, but it was nothing compared the state I've seen Glastonbury.

The first band on the main stage was Obijou, who looked like they were petrified. They were also the kind of soft spoken jangly music I wouldn't normally bother listening to let alone seeing in concert, but they passed the time, and Chris seemed to like them.



Following these were MeanRedSpiders. Now we could stand about two songs of this lot, as the lead singer was neither pretty or could sing, and her wailing was pretty unbearable. We left, grabbed some pizza, and wandered over to the other stage. Grabbing the pizza was a bit of an effort as, in order to get any food or drinks, you had to pre buy tokens at one of two stands. In fact, I think they could possibly have had a few more stalls and stands with stuff to do, but maybe as it was the 1st one it was difficult to get sposorship.

On the other stage was some band just finishing, and then we got David Ford. Now this guy was from England, and played 5 or 6 instruments on stage, using recording equipment to tie them all together. He reminded me of David Gray a bit, not his voice but it was similar music. However, it was very dull, and he annoyed me a lot by constantly slagging off England, and saying things like "This song is about the death of the coal industry"* when it quite clearly was about him breaking up with some girl. Also, all his songs sounded the same, so we left halfway through him too.

Back at the mian stage and we had possibly the best band we saw, Phoenix. They were from France so obviously had something about them to be there, and all the songs they played, even though I hadn't heard any of them (although it turned out later I had heard one) were good to bounce along to. When I get round to it I'll listen to some more of their stuff.

Next up were the Hidden Cameras and The Dears. We didn't really catch much of either, although the former had a good tune to start with, as we frequented the Bacardi B~Live tent for some cocktail type things. We had 7 each I believe. Also there were girls in gold bikinis serving.

Next up were Starsailor on the other stage. Now the last time I saw Starsailor at Glastonbury I was about a mile back. This time I just wandered up a minute before they were due on and got to the front row, very weird feeling that for a bad who are pretty popular in this country. They were very good as well, and as we knew the next act on the main stage would be delayed we stayed for most of the set, with only one song I knew not being played which was great. Lead singer bloke also kept lookng in my direction as I knew a lot of the words (actually I reckon he was checking out the girl to my left, but whatever).



At the main stage we had some more Brits with Muse. Now when I saw them before at Glastonbury I reckon I was halfway home I was so far back. Also it was very cold and I was tired an didn't enjoy them much. This time I was much more into it, and the singer's red jump suit looked good. They played mostly singles which is what I'd expect from a festival, but they cut their set short by about 20 minutes as they were running late.

Gnarls Barkley followed with a set that was quite dull, except for the obvious sing-a-long single Crazy. Lead singer bloke kept spouting rubbish between songs as a build up but it wasn't good. They looked nice in their red and white gospel costumes though.

Everything was about 30 minutes late now and we thought that the DJ set of Kid Koala might have been canned. But he still same out and played for about 20 minutes, and he was superb, especially his scratch mixing of Moon River.

He was supposed to be playing whilst the stage was being set for the Flaming Lips (here is a picture of the singer bloke watching Ohbijou)



but even after he finished they spent another 20 minutes or so setting up. This brought us to 10:40, with the show supposedly finishing at 11 there was a problem, and at 11:10 the show was abruptly brought to an end less than halfway through their alloted time. I've seen them before so it was OK for me, but I felt sorry for the people who had gone there just to see them play.

As a side note, during the lips set the singer comes out in a big bubble and surfs the crowd. A girl just behind me was cought off balance and would have fallen over had I not steadied her. As thanks she invited me to the Eagles of Death Metal (who had been playing elsewhere) afte show party at some hotel somewhere. I was a bit dubious when she said we should meet at the first tree on the left after the show, and so, suffice to say I wasn't partying with any eagles later that night (although I did stay out until 5, which probably wasn't the best idea as it meant I got up late on the Sunday and had 10 minutes to pack to come home).

All in all though, it was well worth the ludicrously cheap ticket (70 dollars maybe).

* Note he never actually said this, I just can't remember exactly what he did say as it was all rather boring

Guess what time I got up yesterday?

If you said 6 o'clock PM you would have been correct. It wasn't beause I was tired, it's just because I didn't want to (although I got up about 3 to make myself a sandwich to eat in bed).......today was a much more civilised 3 o'clock PM...

Oot and Aboot in Canadia (part II)

Now for another of the things that I did whilst in Toronto. I guess the most distinctive landmark is the CN tower, which is allegedly the tallest free standing building in the world, or something. It is pretty tall, and I know that taking the lift up made me feel a little queasy (only a little). Once at the top it did give pretty impressive views of Toronto, although the city side was only averagely interesting. Here's some pictures (note the building in front of the tower in the first picture is where I was working): -





Whilst I was waiting in the queue to go from the main area to the sky-pod....



I was subjected to the following stupid American conversation: -

American Mum - "Why do we need to go up to the sky-pod"
American kid (about 17) - "Because it's quite a long way up and we'll get a better view"
Mum - "How far up?"
Kid - "There's a thing on the wall behind, let's look"
Mum - "OK, it says we are at 1100ft, and the sky-pod is at 1400ft. Wow, that's an extra 500ft, we should definitely go"

At least the kid knew how to handle a camera, this is me sat on the glass floor which you can basically look straight down at the floor from: -



here's a couple more pictures from Niagara too, one of me on the maid in the mist and one looking down on it

Look at my horizons, they're so broad

As I was in Toronto for 6 weeks or so, I felt the need to be a bit creative with my diet, so I went to the following different types of restaurant (obviously with regular trips to regular ones too): -

• Japanese
• Korean
• Vietnamese
• Chinese
• Italian (a few of these)
• Greek
• Moroccan
• French

And also ate the following food for the first time (of which I liked them all)

• Oysters
• Lobster
• Bison
• Ostrich
• Frog (well the legs anyway)

I know that these aren't particular to Canada, but it's not as if I go out to eat much here so it was a good opportunity, and Chris was always up for anything.

My alcohol experimentation didn't quite stretch so far, mostly sticking to local beers (which were pretty good, I very rarely felt ill after even the heaviest sessions).

Just in case.....

you were sat there worried whether I had got my luggage yet, it arrived safe and sound yesterday at 9:30pm. I had forgotten to lock it though so I had a quick check that nobody had made off with my dirty clothes......surprisingly they hadn't.

10 Things...

5 Things I liked about Canada

• People - mostly very friendly, although I couldn't understand it when people said my accent was cute, it quite clearly isn't
• Toronto - very clean, pretty by the lakes, enough nightlife (although it might be liable to get a bit dull doing the same stuff every week). Also there seems to be plenty to do at weekends (during the summer at least)
• My hotel (Soho Metropolitan) - Very good location downtown, within walking distance to work and also to a lot of restaurants and bars.
• Roads and Drivers - all drivers mostly considerate to pedestrians, and don't drive too fast around town (save for cabs who could be as mental as anywhere).
• Bars - or more to the point, the fact that they all had waitresses. Much better lark than having to queue up for 15 minutes to get your own drinks. Yes you had to tip them but it was worth it (except when I was told off for not tipping one, she was from England as well, cheeky cow didn't get a tip after that either)

5 Things I disliked about Canada

• Taxes - Maybe it's just me, but I like the price I see on the price list to be the price I pay, and not have to worry about adding on extra taxes at the time of the bill. This becomes particularly important when you are on a budget for food.
• Weather - This is what suprised me. I thought it would be nice but instead I get humidity, thunderstorms, thick fog (possibly smog), cold evenings, hot days, cold days, wet days.....yes we got some good days, but it just wasn't what I expected.
• "I was like, Oh my god!!! That was awesome, and then she was like, no way, that totally sucked"
• Beer - Nice but very expensive. Also, a pain that there are so few shops that sell it, and that at events you still have to drink it in a pen. Also the fact we were ID'd everywhere meant that, as Chris forgot his a couple of times (not having a driving licence meant he needed his passport) meant we were disallowed entry.
• TV - Too many advert breaks, and most of them awful. Infomercials for weight loss or some other such miracle cure were abundant, and most programming worth avoiding. Also the sports coverage left a lot to be desired.

OI!

Not too happy at the moment, stupid BA have 'misplaced' my suitcase so I'm waiting to hear from them about it (at least it got me out of having to do my washing). Seems that quite a few bags from my flight went missing as there were other people in the same boat.

Also, I get back to find my favourite music channel (VH2) has been replaced by MTV Flux. The same thing happened last year when the Amp was replaced by some fluffy chart channel, stupid NTL!!!

still at work, what's that all about?

I was going to update my blog this evening with more pictures and chat about what I have done in Toronto, but it looks like it's going to be a late one at work so I won't get the chance......I probably shouldn't have had those beers and shots at lunchtime though (the shots were on the house at Alice Fazoolis, which was nice), I'm feeling very sleepy........

Sport, Sport, Sport, Sport

As I've previously stated, I went to a baseball game featuring the Blue Jays and the White Sox a few weeks ago. It wasn't the most interesting game I've been to, but there was always something happening. Maybe I just didn't get the nuances and subtleties but it all seemed very samey. Also the crowd didn't seem that interested to be honest.



I've also been to see some Tennis (Rogers Cup) for the first time too. We were hoping to see Andy Murray, but he played in the afternoon session, but instead we did get Roger Federer, who was amazing, particularly in the first set. We got two matches, Federer's was first and then we had a double match to watch between Martin Damm/Leander Paes and two other guys. I only remember those names because there was a very annoying guy sat near us who was almost constantly chanting.....

*slap* *slap* *clap* *clap* *slap* *slap* *clap* *clap* Let's go Martin, Let's go Pai-es, Let's Go *clap* *clap* Let's Go!! *clap* *clap*




Going to the Tennis the cab driver had no idea where to go, and coming back the cab driver took us the long route (which Chris was none too happy about as he has a pretty good idea about which direction we were going).

Another sport I've seen whilst here was the World Dragon Boat Championships, which was cool for about half an hour, but again got a bit samey, but it was quite a good spectacle watching the twenty strong crew paddling in unison, and we also saw a british team (they didn't win).



I like sport...now, everybody join in.....*slap* *slap* *clap* *clap*

Imagine if I lived alone

This half full glass of water has been sat on the coffee table since Wednesday, man I'm such a slob.....