This Canadian holiday I…

• learned not to fly in the middle of the day
  Because it always ends up being delayed. I spent five hours sitting around Glasgow Airport on the way out and had time for dinner and dessert on the way back, my flights were so damn late. The key is to take the first flight of the day, which is why my sister booked herself a 5am service.
• ate a hell of a lot of Asian food
  This I totally did not expect. I had century egg porridge, mee pok tah, spicy Sichuan fish stew (水煮鱼片), tofu salad (老虎菜), dry-fried beans (干煸四季豆), roti prata, sashimi (gigantor slices), dough sticks (油条), beef sandwiches (肉夹末), chye tow kueh (carrot cake), xiao long bao (小笼包), various soy products (豆水 and 豆花), and probably more but I forget. My cousin told me that the Chinese food has got much more varied since the Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese immigrated en masse.
• bought those Fluevog shoes I was talking about
  Oh yeah. The surprise was my sister and cousin paid for them as my wedding present. Haha. Motorcycle-type boots and slightly fetish-y shoes for a wedding present. How totally excellent.
• had lots of lovely long talks with my aunt, cousin, and sister
  I’m the baby of the family (on this side, not counting the sprogs), so this is the first time I’ve heard many of these anecdotes, from relatives I haven’t met up with for ages. I also met an uncle I haven’t seen in years. He’s the spitting image of his dad. Heh.
• met the man Kevin McCloud would die for
  My cousin’s boyfriend, Steve, is the handiest DIY-er I have ever met. I spent my first day in Canada marvelling over his house, and I mistook his double garage as the neighbour’s house, it’s that good. This man has done it all (he is Bob the Builder in real life, I swear) and owns every power tool known to man. Plus he rides a motorcycle. And he’s got a Jag.
• misplaced my backpack
  Well, the airline did. I’ve been lucky and have not my luggage not appear on the carousel for two decades or so; I suppose my time has come. That doesn’t mean I’m not distressed — my new Volcom cardigan is in there.

Flickr set

• 31 Jul 2008