Not so welcome

I said in my last post I would find out some information on Canada. I found a small piece of information that was of interest. Vancouver is a relatively new city, Europeans first came here in the 1860's and British Columbia is only 150 years old itself (I think that means the birth of it as a Province and I wouldn't quote me on these facts... wikepedophile). This means that they havent got hundreds and hundreds of years of history. The place is making its early history, it is therefore finding its feet. Much like I have been trying since I have come here. It also means the cities identity is not fully developed and i personally feel the downtown identity needs some development.

I am very happy at the moment, I woke up and was singing Call me Al in the shower. I don't know if that is necessary information to share but I just want to go on record to say im not miserable but that doesn't mean I am in love with Downtown Vancouver. I think first impressions are important, so is curteosy and just plain friendliness. My hostel hasn't really delivered in this department. The guys behind the desk are reluctant to provide almost any kind of service. There are signs behind saying what is on offer but they make you feel like you are really putting them out if you ask anything of them, even if its just to buy toothpaste. Personally I think if you work in a hostel you should be warm and friendly, all of my hostel experiences in europe have shown me this, I don't think that when a guest says hello to you in the corridoor you should ignore them and just walk on you should have been the one to say hello in the first place. I have to say thus far I have found Canadians in the Downtown district much like this. An Aussie I was talking to at the bar last night described everyone in Vancouver as a douchebag and told me about a place called Cologne. This excites me somewhat, he said the place had the mildest temperature in Canada, he said it was in Alberta (my middle names Albert, clearly a sign) he also said that everyones really friendly and its got a lot of character. Downtown Vancouver has a Starbucks on every corner and I hate Starbucks, there must be a 1000 of them its a corporate coffee hell! I want to go explore Canada so it will be interesting to see where the road takes me.

On a positive note I went out last night and made some friends! We drank lots of beer and queued, queued, queued, tried to be Austrian and play dumb to get in a club VIP route, got kicked out of the line, queued again to let some tosser of a doorman let all his mates in and when confronted about us queuing for a bar just kind of looked at the floor and muttered something. We got a little bored of this so I was reluctantly dragged to Burger King (not a big fan) where to take out my anger ordered some extra onion rings which were crap and retired to my hostel to watch Borat!I forgot how much I loved that film. I also forgot how much I'd had to drink, how tired I was and to put my half drank coca cola down before I drifted into drunken unconcious. Needless to say I woke up to find I had poured coke all over myself.

Today in true hangover form I asked out Yoga teacher who I had been chatting to about the variety of spreads, told a couple of German lads that i loved them (Ich Liebe Dich is all I really know in German, which is quite good cos as a nation I love the Germans) and hinted a girl from Oregan might be a hippy. All in one breakfast, It is important to say no foreigners were offended in the eating of this mornings breakfast!I'm sure I was quite a hit or at least of some small amusement to somebody.

For your reference I'm staying in the Hi-hostel downtown, the staff are poor yes, but the internet is good and the breakfast bloody brilliant. You can nip over to the Sun....something hostel where you can make lots of friends, buy cheap beever (a brand of lager) and generally have a good time. Time for lunch.

Travelling to a new country armed only with a few personal possesions and yourself leaves you with a few questions. What am I going to do?Where am I staying?What am I going to have for dinner?But probably most importantly "who am I?" (Jackie Chan 1990's).

This is a confusing question as many people have complex personalities and different places bring different things out of different people. I thought I would start simply with the fact I am a runner. I'm not a runner because I'm going to one day bring home the gold for Britain in the 3,000m steeple chase although I would like to, I'm not that good. I'm a runner because I am six foot one and most of that height is composed up of legs. I also have a metabolism which allows me to gorge on Frey Bentos tinned pies, Highly regular fried breakfasts, Sausage curries (infact sausage anything) and also lets me consider coleslaw as a salad or a toffee apple as a good way of getting your 5 a day. Basically I have the body of a runner and the mind of an idiot this makes running the ideal sport for me!

With this carefully considered I woke up at 8am (Canadian time) on my first day in Vancouver, put on my trainers, vest and headed  straight out the door for Stanley Park. I was not to be dissapointed. Stanley park is just a few blocks away from my hostel in downtown and it wasn't long till i was running by the waterside taking in the amazing views. You can probably tell I haven't really made any friends yet else I wouldn't be on the internet writing this but when I go running I don't really need friends. I have headphones. When you have music on a personal stereo, especially in a new location, it really feels as if the artists are there with you. So if you would like to imagine that i was running through a park in Canada with David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Simon and Garfunkel, Lionel Richie, Lemar, Enrique Iglesias, Michael Stype, Liam Gallagher, Eric Idle and Zorba the Greek I think you will agree not only is that quite an incredible image I was also enjoying myself.

Sadly I didn't take my camera so photos of me, the gang and Stanley Park aren't available yet. I also must apologise that this hasn't actually been that informative about Canada and more about myself. While I feel it's important to talk a little bit about myself so that you can understand the perspective this look at canada will come from I hope to be able to give a good account about what Canada is really like so now i must go, get out there and see it!