The Brave Soldier

10 March - Woke up with a pretty horrible hangover and looked at my Blackberry to find out that I'd already been assigned a couple of trips and then looked out the window to see that it was still snowing and the streets were completely covered in white. Not being able to face the start just then I buzzed lee to let him know that I needed to fix my bike and would be a bit late (a valid excuse because I did need to replace a flat tyre - I'd even had to borrow Shadow's BMX to complete my last trip on the previous day) but after popping some Ibuprofen and rugging up with every layer I had I still managed to get into town only an hour late. It had stopped snowing by the time I arrived in town and, amazingly, the snow had almost completely disappeared by midday and it was hot (well, relatively hot for someone wearing four layers of winter clothing) with clear blue skies. A very strange morning with hardly any trips - something was definitely happening back the Richmond office because Lee sounded very strange on the radio and I couldn’t get a hold of him for an hour at one point - rumours were flying around our little core of workers with us wondering whether he had been fired or if we'd lost one or two of the major accounts. I'm sure it will all come out eventually. I was pretty fresh most of the day which was surprising considering the lack of sleep and the punishment of the previous night although by the afternoon I was really tired and was struggling to stay awake. I kept on getting condolences from all the other couriers for having to work today - Shadow may have embellished our drinking exploits from the night I think. Whilst visiting the 7th floor of 837 Hastings, a site known foits friendly receptionist and, more importantly, the site where static man's powers are at their most powerful because of the thick synthetic carpets and proximity of the building to the wind tunnel of Hornby Street I pressed the button to call the lift and was given an electric shock so powerful that it burst a blood vessel in the tip of my finger (and it still f**king hurts). Also, in their infinite wisdom, TPTB have decided to completely retarmac Howe Street, one of principle arteries of the core. Huge trucks driving along the road tearing up the top layer of asphalt and spitting it into a big dump truck. Amazing to watch but not so pleasant to smell and it means that the roads are covered in crap which just tears my tyres to shreds and there are a lot of mini potholes exposed which are constantly threatening to throw me off my bike. It's baffling that so much construction work is done during the daytime over here where it completely constricts movement within the downtown core. It's not so bad for us because we can usually maneuver around it but it's hell for the driver couriers (and the multitudes who drive to work but I don't really car about them). I'm sure there's a bylaw that explains who this occurs. Finally, the day was over and I went straight home and vegetated for a few hours before watching the Graduate, one of the best films I've never seen. I’m surprised its taken me this long to see the movie but suffice to say I can certainly understand why it consistently appears in the top 10 of all time lists - a veritable classic. Didn’t want to go out at all but was convinced by Mark to join him for a beer or two, this decision was made easier by Rene's return to the house spouting crap about a scuffle of some kind hed gotten up that night - all much easier to head out and wait until he was 'shuttin' her down!' - returned home for mark's famous whole-wheat bun hotdogs and a screening of Donnie darko which I passed out whilst watching. Tomorrow will be a day of rest I think.