Homeless No More

23 October - Went out last night but did not really enjoy myself very much - had a drink at a sports bar and then went to the Cambie, which is like a traveller's drinking hole. The bouncer kept me at the door even though there was noone else there before letting me in - full of drunken yahoos (both foreign and domestic) - perhaps if i'd started drinking when they did them I wouldn't feel the contempt that I did or maybe i'm just getting old. In any event, got a bit tired a bit quickly and opted out. On my return I was cornered by the guy who works at the hostel who wanted advice on how to use his Pocket PC, he's kind of strange but friendly enough (he's not a handsome man with his shirt off though - that thought alone kept me from sleeping). Made a skype call or two before crashing out and sleeping in (until 8am, hurrah!) - and had my cereal (the weirdo guy who grunts at me wasn't in the kitchen when I ate - thank God) and checked some online ads for shar accommodation.
Went out for a coffee before I left and had a bit of a chat with Drew, an older hippie who's been staying at the hostel for a few days - very nice, he's a writer of some kind and is working on projects to keep retirees from retiring by reskilling them - very noble effort and an incredibly interesting person, I think he was a bit of an activist when he was younger - pity he's leaving today.
Went for my first proper ride on the bicycle today out to East 54th avenue for an open house inspection (which means 53 blocks south of 1st avenue) which was mostly uphill, it was also quite far East from where I was so it took quite some time - I was in the general vicinity when I realised I was getting a bit lost in a bunch of golf coures and horse riding camps - I looked at my note and realised that I was supposed to be at 29th avenue instead! In any event, I was approaching an appointment with another place so I high-tailed it back there. The next place was kind of dingy but had pretty much all facilities and the landlord was a very nice Russian guy (we had a chat about where Russia was going today - he thinks Russia is not very safe now and he's ashamed of it (???)) - he also said he might be able to give me a job (he's in telcos) if the bike thing doesn't work out, could be interesting. In any event went down to another appointment for a share house on East First Avenue (so easy to navigate in this city, it's fantastic - bit hilly though) and found the place where i'm going to move into. Big room in a beautiful old house with a large backyard, all facilities including wifi and house computer, TV and stuff, even a cleaner and it seems like a pretty good area - and the price was less than some of the awful places. There will be six people living there - but I think that could be a good thing at first (helps to expand my very small network at this stage of my trip). The landlord seemed nice enough - I was the first to see the flat (he put the ad in that morning) so I gave him the deposit and I move in next week. It does mean I have to stay at the hostel another week but it's not so bad and I can relax a bit and see what Vancouver has to offer now that i'm not traipsing all over looking for a place to live (although the job search will have to start now unfortunately).
For anyone who wants to send me a postcard (i don't know why anyone would because they're not going to get a reply from me) or some Vegemite, the address for the house is:
1949 East First Avenue
Vancouver BC V5N 1B3
Canadia