Chad Is Everywhere

Well here I am at the peak of the snow hills, Lake Louise. I've been skiing a few of the runs here today. What a great way to lead upto xmas. News is that I will be in backwater Canada for Xmas. Working the ski hill I suspect that day. Then the plan is for a huge Xmas dinner. Some of the chefs are preparing a huge meal for us. should be good. Anyway gotta run. Everyone enjoy xmas. have a great time. Chad

We're here in Vancouver. Still. We're not supposed to be but we are. Thanks to Air Canada, and the most snow in Vancouver in over 7 years. All I can say is watch out for flying spanners. There's nothing like throwing a few spanners into the machinery to ruin the plans. We had it all worked out yesterday afternoon. Not an easy situation when considering that we had to: - fly to Calgary Tuesday at 12 noon, - get shuttle from airport to hostel accommodation (which was not booked yet) - Wed afternoon car hire with drop off in Banff Thursday. We'd drive to Nakiska for the Wednesday night. - Thursday I start work, while Craig would drive to Banff, return car, pick stuff up off ex, and then stay in Banff the night to catch early Friday bus back to Nakiska. As complex as it sounds things all worked in theory. And then Air Canada called with the news. They had canceled our flight. The plane scheduled doesn't like too much snow. Next available flight they could get ...

There's no business like snow business.... Well it's snowing in Vancouver. And not like the travel guides describe it 'as it snows in Vancouver but never settles'. This snow is settled. And it's not stopping any time soon. And its now officially cold. And it's only going to get colder cause unless something happens tomorrow I'll be up at Nakiska Ski Resort working there for a while. Yeah, of all things I've ended up getting that ski job. Doesn't pay anything but hey it's not about the money. I'll be employed by the mountain so have subsidized accommodation, and a ski pass for 5 mountains. The biggest issue for anyone thinking of working the ski fields is the accommodation issue. Only negative is that I've been hired as Trail Crew. Yeah, I that means I'll be shoveling snow. Oh well it should be fun, at least for a bit. And I'll get to ski, and ski, and ski. In the few days before the snow CJ and I didn't do anything ext...

I thought I'd update peoples with news on the broken nose. It's all but healed. Every day I find it harder and harder to successfully achieve the homeless look. The broken nose with black eyes gives one such a head start. Last week I went to the specialist here in Vancouver. They weren't so keen on re-fracturing the nose to re-align it. There was a 1/3 chance it'd be back to normal, a 1/3 chance there'd be only slight improvement, and a 1/3 chance of no change. The alignment is only slightly out up on the bridge. Now that the swelling has gone I can feel the difference. I'm left wondering whether it'll affect me during hayfever season. For the moment it just gives me a whole new point at which the glasses can sit. If I find it annoys me, or I have trouble breathing then I'm ok to go get it fixed while I'm here. But it can be fixed later. I'm not so keen on the alternative. That being to find a psycho with a right-hook to re-align it. Anyw...

After several days of threatening finer weather the day has again turned nasty. Oh well. Last few days I've been kept busy with applying for jobs, and then showing CJ around town. Then sometimes its just a case of getting out to avoid cabin fever. We managed to hire some bikes today and have fine-ish weather for the entire ride around Stanley park. But true to form it rain on us as we walked back to the hostel. In my last post I mentioned that I'd add some more photos. Anyway here goes for those waiting: First off we have False Creek and the view to Yaletown. If anyone had of subscribed to the Chad Holiday Fund prospectus then the Fund Manager would be making executive decisions from here. Unfortunately the fund closed under-subscribed and the manager therefore still resides at the hostel. The other photo is that of North Vancouver. This area north of Vancouver is where the locals go to ski after work. On the news front CJ leaves in a couple of days. The Nakiska Ski...

SIN'ing is a hobby of the backpackers who arrive here in Vancouver. It seems that every 2nd Australian arriving here seems to spend their first day at the office where there Social Insurance Number's (TFN equivalent) are issued. The others who don't SIN are on their way to work in London after doing a ski trip. Which leaves the question. Just how many Australians are left back home? Seems that the reports that 1/3 of ski resorts near Vancouver are stocked with Australians is not far off the mark. Every day it seems that another boatload of Australian refugees are off to the slopes. Perhaps they'll succeed in their quest of finding snow. Which brings up the other statistic I heard today. 1/4 of all the people who go to the ski fields to work as an instructor or in a skiing related job end up with some sort of major injury. ie broken limbs, knee reconstruction, torn muscles etc. Apparently between this and the fact the Australian univeristy year recommences in F...