Lydia & Julz Go Large Week 23

Week Update 23

We went down to Vancouver for a couple of days for Lisa's last days in Canada, hired a car and road tripped down, once again Julia opted to be the designated driver. The girl who thinks red lights are merely a suggestion. I'm more of a : Curb? What Curb? type of driver hence why I'm down to two hub caps on my little Yaris. I think there was a general consensus that we couldn't afford the insurance excess if I were to drive, no time for being polite in the face of forking out life savings, a detriment to the cider fund.

We visited Stanley Park, Vancouver's oasis to get some great scenic shots where Julia's camera went flat after the first couple of pics which only stayed alive long enough to capture the glistening grime on the rocks. We also went to the Vancouver Aquarium, which expanded my list of animals for the next animal game I play, I think I can add Beluga Whales to the memory bank. We explored the city in true shopaholic form, shopping on Robson Street and Granville Street, to spend the bonus that our boss gave us for shoes. The embarrassment of being on the poverty line like most Whistlerites at that, is that shoes with a sole are very few and far between. Julia and I had to stay focused on the shopping exhibition, after all, she attempted to sneak in a $12 pair of thongs in the shopping trolley at Wall mart, when we'd already made an executive decision to buy the $4 pair of thongs each, let's not get crazy now, we're not made of money. Then we caught the sky train (the way of the future) to Metrotown, where a city slicker 'accidently' (a debatable term) stomped on Julia's toe when he was rushing off the sky train, the $4 pair of thongs doesn't exactly provide the best protection. We went to Metrotown which was continually referred to as Motown for a little more shopping where we went to see the Hang Over II, which reinforced the notion of "We made a pack, Wolf pack only" aka "What happens in Canada, stays in Canada."

Vancouver, the city with a high homelessness rate. Each corner, there was someone asking for money, it's such a competitive market. The signs are a mini gallery of the most creative ways of asking for money. The most entertaining was a sign saying 'Smile if you masturbate.' This eye opener experience has put us in great stead for the day we are performing the double dream hands on the corner of Granville Street with our ol' mate with the sign 'Smile if you masturbate' backing us up with the harmonica.

Our friend Mitch in Vancouver with our ol' mate

We stayed at the Sandman hotel, contrary to the lyrics, Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream (Bum bum bum bum), the only thing I was left with was a pulled back muscle after we decided to take a late night dip in the hotel pool. Ok, ok I have no other way of putting this other than admitting that I was showing off, trying to do a back flip in the pool, overestimating my flexibility and ended with a pulled back muscle, yep still a delicate swan. This was the perfect example of the"Watch this!" injury. I should have learnt this lesson from last week - if there is a physical feat that you're rather proud of, don't try to show someone when you're drunk or better yet when your flexibility has aged since the last time you've performed this maneuver.

Then the time had come to say good-bye to the third stooge, it was the tear jerker of the past three weeks. It was hard saying good-bye to our good friend. Where is the “good” in goodbye?

It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right, I hope you had the time of your life, Patto!

Then there were two....

Love

Lydia and Julia x