Another typical day in Vancouver

So I don't think I'm exactly doing the typical tourist thing in Vancouver, but I'm finding lots of interesting things. I know a great vegetarian/Vegan restaurant on Commercial Drive, I know where to go for a $2.95 breakfast, I know the location of about half the alternative queer sharehouses in the city (and the names of a a whole lot more) and run into people I vaguely know at least once a day. And all after less than a week! Ok, so it's the post-queeruption week when everyone from out of town is still hanging around the few places that we out-of-towners know, but still, it's a nice feeling. I'm not going to get sucked in, though. I Will Go To Montreal!

Yesterday was a rest day - probably my first in about 2 months, I think. I only left the house for about half an hour in the evening to have a turn around the lake. I spent the rest of the day either asleep or on the internet, or sorting things on my computer when someone else wanted the internet cable. It was great. And then today, I saw two vans, that are parked near here - one was a milk truck with solar panels, which was kind of cool and quirky, but rather huge and in need of quite a bit of work to make it livable. I wandered past another one parked just two blocks from here, but the guy wasn't answering his phone, so I didn't get to see inside properly. It looked really nice though, and I have made an appointment to see it tomorrow afternoon, and maybe test drive it. It's very promising. I also have an appointment to see an even better looking and cheaper one in Langley tomorrow evening. Unfortunately Langley is about an hour away, so I'm hoping it's worth it. I want to see if I can line up one or two more to see out that way, as there seem to be several. I'm really hoping that one of the two I already have appointments for will be good though, cos then I can just buy it tomorrow and hopefully be ready to leave vancouver in the next few days. Tobi and Micha - the guys I know from Berlin with whom I have been hanging out all week, leave for Seattle tomorrow morning. I was hoping to be able to drive them, but it wasn't to be. If I can sort out a van in time, however, I will see if I can catch up!

The other thing I have to think about seriously is work. I worked out today that I have been working pretty much solidly since september last year, with only a couple of weeks holiday over christmas, and a couple of weeks in which I didn't work, but travelled instead, which isn't exactly restful, though fun. While I'm glad of this, as it is the reason I can afford to buy a van and consider not working for a while, I am sort of feeling like I'm not in a great hurry to race over to Montreal and work. I would rather take my time getting there, use the network of Queeruption friends I have developed all over north america, and live and travel in my hypothetical van for a while. I mean, how often will I have the time and opportunity to discover a new country this way! I want to see as much as I can - of Canada and bits of the USA while I can. And then when I get Montreal, I know I will find work, even if it isn't the best work that is there.

Apart from seeing the vans, I also went to a festival today. Under the Volcano an alternative musical festival accompanied by an info fair that has been running for 17 years. I saw three acts while I was there, and loved all three of them, particularly NaR, whose cd I purchased, and Pura Fe. I also got a festival t-shirt, as I accidentally left three t-shirts at Queenswood in the UK, and the cleaners there aparently took no lost property, but just tossed EVERYTHING into the bin. So I'm on the look out for cool and/or cheap t-shirts.
All in all, it's been another seriously successful day!