My last couple of days in Vancouver were fantastic (despite being marred by a complete fwit). Andrew came and spent the weekend with Sarah and me, which was nice because it meant that one of my friends actually got to know him! It only took a year and a half (obviously Spunk and Tessa are excluded here).
We showed Snuffy around Vancouver, and took him to parts of Stanley Park that we hadn’t investigated. There were some totem poles there (which by this stage Sare and I had gotten over the novelty), and many walking trails. We started walking around the outskirts of the park, surrounded by the harbour, past the ‘girl in a wetsuit’ (literally) statue and then we decided to cut into the park and have a look at beaver lake. Turns out a section of the park is a beautiful rainforest. Who woulda thunkit? We marvelled at the moss-covered trees towering over us and wondered how this could exist in the middle of the city (Studley Park eat your heart out).
We showed Snuffy other bits of Vancouver and then settled in for a bit of a nap. Sarah went to be a nerd and Andrew and I went out for tea, getting back smack on 11. But…they lock the doors at 11, which isn’t normally a problem because they open the doors for you and wave at you. However, this time the woman demanded to see my key, which I didn’t have and gave me a lecture on how I’m supposed to carry it. If we had only been a few minutes earlier….
The best part however, is because Andrew isn’t on the system, they wouldn’t let him come with me. I requested that I pay for him to stay in the room, but she wouldn’t hear of it. Finally she said that I could get Sarah to come down and she’d discuss it then, but Andrew would have to stay in the lobby. I was in such shock I said to Andrew that we’d use the computers for a few minutes, because I didn’t know what to say, but then this guy came out and abused the shit out of Andrew and yelled at him to get out of the hostel, for apparently trying to sneak up. Remember how I don’t have a key, you fricking idiot??
So I went upstairs to grab Sare, and she was chatting with a few Australians. I used a few choice words to describe the people at the front desk, and thankfully they were all very supportive and told me what idiots they were. Sarah came down (and unbeknownst to me, the rest of the crew to watch!) and all of a sudden it was fine for Andrew to stay. HOWEVER, then the guy yelled at me for trying to sneak Andrew up, and then I asked to defend myself and he yelled, NO, END OF STORY and was a complete fricking jerk. So I defended myself anyway and he walked out of the hostel, slamming doors. I hope that he had had a really fricking bad day because that is the worst that I have ever been treated in a hostel (or anywhere else for that matter). I think I’d rather spend time with some quality year 8 students than have to go through that again.
So, I was left feeling sick with tension for the rest of the night, because you all know how much I love confrontations. On the bright side everybody was very supportive of me and told me continually what a countryman he was. Damn straight he was.
The next day I was still feeling a little tense, but felt better when the jerk from hell wasn’t downstairs. We whisked Snuffy off to Granville Island and walked around the markets for a while. Where do you think he had the most fun? Yup, the kids market. He headed straight for the toy store and played with toy after toy, looking at the lego and claiming that he was investigating for a friend with a kid. For sure. We spent quite a while playing with all the toys and being downright silly. And here I was thinking that Sarah and I would have to be a bit more sensible with Snuffy around. However, I don’t think he really appreciated us placing a pig toy on him and singing his Snuffy Pig song in the toy store. He stood there for the photo though, so some part of him must love it.
The adventure drew to an end and it was time to head to the airport. We farewelled Sarah and I started to feel quite down, but Snuffy irritated me enough that I was too busy trying to fend him off (and my giggling fit) to feel sad. We got on our separate flights and met at the hotel later in Calgary. Onto my last post for Schmanada….
Vancouver photos
