Snow, Snow, Snow

Mp3 track of the day - Snow - Bing Crosby


Weather - Funnily enough it's snowing ... in May

At 2:30am this morning two 'room mates' decided to come back into the dorm after a night on the town (nothing wrong with that, it is a hostel). However, on their return, one of them decided to turn on the lights (waking everyone up) to find his phone ... apparently expecting a lot of phone calls at 2:30 in the morning. He did give a hollow sorry ... not as sorry as when, in 5 hours time, I shall be up opening all the curtains, switching on the lights and singing 'Land of hope and glory' in a very off key!

After getting up (revenge is sweet) I headed out for breakfast before returning to the hostel to get my stuff and then off to the bus station. It was snowing in Calgary but not settling, however as we got further north the snow got heavier and heavier until ... we arrived in Edmonton where it rained (go figure).

Once in Edmonton I looked at the directions given out by the hostel "... the hostel is within 8 minutes walk of the bus station..." useful that. Luckily for me I had my guidebook which had it pin-pointed on the map; unfortunately it was pin-pointed in the wrong place (apparently it's the same in all guidebooks) and so I relied on the old faithful navigation technique of asking someone. After a little while I had located the block but still couldn't find the hostel (stupid Canadian building numbering system) until a kind gentleman walked me to the hostel. Now I must note that I had been passed my hostel 3 times before but hadn't even considered the building could be my hostel as it had the word 'Hotel' written in 6 foot letters on the top of the building. Wet, cold and very annoyed I let the receptionist know that having the word 'hotel' on the top of your hostel building isn't the best example of 'correct marketing' (I mean could they not afford the 's' to make hostel?). She just laughed and said that she knew ... not the desired affect I had in mind, and if she knew why hadn't she done something about it!

After this I went to my room to put my stuff down only to find Simon, an Aussie I had met in Calgary, in there. We chatted for a bit and then he told me he was going to Toronto and I gave him a heads up on what to do. In return he gave me a Jasper Cable Car pass for when I will be in Jasper (this cable car is supposed to be the best within the Rockies and it normally costs $50 ... think I got the best end of the deal there).

After this I did my second load of washing (still no 'google' on the washing machine) and ate chocolate ( a rarity as chocolate is so expensive here). Once this had been done I headed out for something to eat.


Now it was snowing heavily outside (still not settling though) and so my restaurant choice was decided by distance and not quality. Within the main shopping centre I found an 'English Pub' (it had a red phone box and everything) and I had a steak and coke for $24.00 (£16.00). The waiter who served me was the campest guy ever ... after he took my order I had a quick look around to make sure I wasn't in a gay bar (Gay Bar! Gay Bar!) however it was okay as there were lots of blokes and chicks eating. Whilst I had a portion of steak in my mouth, the guy let me know that he would be away for four minutes and would I be okay. I thought about this for a while and decided that, since I had travelled from Toronto, to Ottawa, to Montreal, to Quebec City, to Halifax, to Mogadishu, to Calgary, to Edmonton I should be okay for 4 minutes. The guy was pretty annoying and I knew he was only trying to enhance his tip and so I decreased it ... that will teach him!

Well I'm back at the hostel now and I've written this blog 4 times (due to the internet system which keeps cutting me off). I have however managed to book my hostel in the Jasper national park which I'm really looking forward too; it's 7km outside the town right next to the cable car that I have a free ticket for, oh and there are loads of walks too. Once in Jasper I need to get the shuttle there, however it stops at 5pm and so I need to get the 6:30am bus from here to arrive in time ... ouch!

Until tomorrow


Toodle Pip!