I'd been greeted by open arms and a big hug as a departed the greyhound
service, Anne was evidently still waiting for me despite the delays in
getting there and a breakdown in communication between the two of us.
We scooted off to catch just one more bus before walking up to the
house.
Its certainly a strange feeling to be in a house again. The life of the dorm room becomes ingrained in you, a part of you and now I was, albeit briefly, being returned to some semblance of normality. I met the housemates and, it would seem, more importantly, I met the cats.
Three of them. The names escape me but their presence would not. Awakening
from my first nights sleep, I found not one but all 3 cats had found
their resting place for the night on top of me. Claws tugging at the
blanket and me, cat hair all over me, it was, to say the least, novel!
Each morning I would wake to find at least 2 of them sleeping atop me. Including the strangest cat of all time.
Most cats, in fact I'd go as far as to say all cats I have ever known, Care
for themselves. They preen, they clean and they make sure they look
good. That it had always seemed to me, was the way of the cat. Here in
Vancouver though I had found the exception. A cat with dreds. He didn't clean, he didn't preen, he just looked, and trying to put this nicely, unkempt. You just prayed that he wasn't the one lying an inch from your face in the morning!
I found my whole pattern of daily life change while I
was here. The usual routine seemed to just go without any second
though. I had suddenly shed a great deal of my travel roots, I become
the guest, the friend and the hosted. I wasn't thinking constantly about
where I was going to go, what I was going to see, how I was going to
get there. In fact my brain seemed to just switch off, for the first time in so long someone else was doing the thinking for me!
The results, of course, were completely different to the way I would have done things had I been here on my own. In fact, it wasn't until my final day that my camera actually came out. It really shouldn't have been though as that first night we headed down to the beach and witnessed one of the most glorious sunsets I've ever seen. I reached for my camera, normally ever present to find an empty pocket. I know I would have had that one me if I hadn't
felt so safe leaving it at the house. I would have to make do with the
memory and memory alone of such a beautiful sky. I wont forget it, I
just wish I could share it.
Continuing in the vain my stay here had become accustomed to, we had some chilled days, not really going to see anything specific, just wondering the streets, often her disappearing off to do a job or have an interview whilst I wondered around seeing what that particular area had to offer. Home cooking was interspersed with a variety of meals out including my first experience with a Mongolian Barbecue - A tasty one it was too! An evening out was also taken to catch the latest Pirates of The Caribbean movie, another welcome interlude to the sightseeing extravaganza that had been the last couple of months.
We cooked, we drank (far too much on at least one occasion) and we laughed. The tourist traps were not high on the agenda but relaxing and enjoying my time in Vancouver certainly were. It became something totally different and unexpected. A breather from the travel roller coaster couldn't have been better timed if I'd tried!
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