Stoat - Where?

Board Buying And Eye Spying

The weather’s been a bit rainy since I came back from Whistler, so I used that as an excuse to go and buy some snowboarding gear for the coming season. I got a board, boots and mitts. The sheer amount of choice kind of overwhelmed me to be honest, especially buying a pair of boots, but I’m satisfied that I’ve picked up some stuff that’ll last me a few seasons. It also kind of forces my hand on what I’m going to do this winter vacation! Although the exchange rate wasn’t as good as it could have been, the savings compared to both Britain and Japan were still pretty good. And they’ll be even better in a few months when I get the GST back.

I also journeyed down to Gastown to check out one of the oldest parts of Vancouver. The cobbled streets and building with old facades were very pleasant, in contrast with the modern highrises of Yaletown where we’re staying, though this was a much more touristy part of town. This was especially apparent next to the town’s famous steam clock, which we were standing by when it chimed to signal the hour. It seems that the sound of Big Ben is ubiquitous, not only in Japan. In fact, I’ve seen lots of things that have reminded me of Japan, not least the amount of Japanese tourists here. But also the number of Japanese restaurants and random kanji that are written everywhere. Amusingly, I even saw some mistakenly applied kanji, similar to Engrish that I regularly see in Japan.