Full House

A nice stem of Rosebay Willow Herb poking out of the beautifully kept communal grounds around the strata. I think it is generally known as Fireweed here, but it is a plant that I have associated with summer for a long time.

Lou and Hazel arrived yesterday, their flight was being reported as due half an hour early. As Alex and I left the house, their plane flew over us, there's no mistaking the Zoom aircraft with their mid blue bodies and the word 'Zoom' across them. In spite of actually landing half an hour early, we had to wait 45 minutes for them to clear customs.

On Friday, Alex and I had gone to IHOP (International House of Pancakes) for lunch. I can't say I was terribly impressed with the food there, it wasn't awful, it just was a bit....flavourfree and stodgy really.
What DID impress us though was firstly the toilet, yes, we're British, naturally we find toilets fascinating. The seat was covered in a kind of plastic sleeve, and when you pushed a lever, the sleeve moved along so that your bottom never had to touch where anyone else's had.
Secondly, there was a white Canadian speaking Chinese, I shall assume Cantonese, to the staff. It was quite strange. You hear various Chinese dialects being spoken all the time here and yet when this man spoke it sounded like the scene from Star Wars where Luke Skywalker or Han Solo is in a bar filled with aliens and one starts to talk to them. However, the guy clearly made himself understood, the staff were responding and laughing in a seemingly appropriate way. I was impressed I must admit, and I also understood how he must have felt, wanting to use the skill he has.
I had a two minute opportunity to speak French at Vancouver airport while waiting for Hazel and Lou, a French lady asked me about flights and then seemed quite effusively grateful when I answered her in French. If I hang around at the airport for the next eight years, maybe I will get another opportunity, although by then no doubt I will have forgotten every word I ever knew.

Hazel and Lou's plane was flown by a woman pilot, something that in all my to-ings and fro-ings across the Pond, has never happened to me. When she made a perfect landing she couldn't help announcing to the passengers that it was 'not a bad landing for a woman,' at which they all cheered.

So here they all are. They have two rooms between three friends and I've left them to decide how they organise themselves. I think that poor Hazel is going to get stuck with a lot of cooking, she is a vegan, but she assures me she loves cooking. She's already booked for girls' night on Thursday - Kevin has a frat meeting so he can escape.

They all went to the Mall earlier, Alex HAD to show them the 'Big Beaver Sale' and they went in and asked if the shop had any spares of the smaller posters. 'Spare, spare?' the girl kept repeating. A young man came out and told them in a tired voice that they didn't have any to give away and that yes, they understood the humour.

And Italy have won the World Cup. I didn't really much care, but out of the two I'd have liked to see France win. I'm not sure which team contains more players from British clubs, but see, France are momentarily popular with us Brits for having seen off Portugal.

It won't last.