Settling in at Victoria

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It's 10.47 on the 4th July. I think, after all of the excitement of Beaverfoot and travelling, this will be a shorter blog. I hope so anyway, the last few took me at least an hour and a half to write and another couple of hours to upload all the photos.
So we woke up pretty late on Tuesday morning, having had very little sleep the previous 3 nights for whatever reason. It was the 1st of July, which was Canada day, so Donna and Bob had the day off. We emerged from our room at about noon, and had some breakfast. The first thing we were to do that day was to head down to the local supermarket to buy some food for the next few days. So, once everyone was showered and awake, we jumped in the car with Donna and Terry (who is a woman, if anyone was wondering), who had come round earlier that morning.
We arrived at the supermarket and Donna told us to take a trolley and grab anything we wanted for breakfast, lunch and snacks etc. and she would get the stuff for dinner. We went around, grabbing sandwich meat and cereals and such, then met back up at the checkout.
We headed back home, dropping Terry off on the way, and spent the next couple hours watching TV and talking, Donna and Bob being avid sports fans we had the England-Japan Women's Football World Cup on. For an early dinner Bob cooked up some burgers with a huge array of potato salads, condiments and salads to have with them. Once we'd eaten, it was maybe 6.30 by this point, Bob gave us a lift down to the Inner Harbour so we could walk around the bands and stalls set up all around that area for Canada day, then watch the fireworks once the sun set.
The whole area was alive with people dressed in red and white. There's a patriotism in Canada that is more pronounced than Britain, but less aggressive than in the U.S.. We walked around for a while, the ground vibrating with the bass coming from the act on the main stage, the streets lined with food vendors and stalls, and the harbour full of all sorts of boats - from paddle boards to huge, sleek yachts. The atmosphere was fantastic, buzzing with good-natured energy and excitement. We bought a coffee and continued to explore the harbour before sitting for a while on the grass in one of the parks close to the waterfront.
Finally, when the sun started to go down, we found a spot sitting on the edge of the harbour wall looking out to into the harbour on the left, and onto the grand frontage of the Empress Hotel on the right. We sat for maybe 40 minutes, soaking in the atmosphere and beautiful sunset before the music dropped and the fireworks began. The display lasted maybe 20 minutes, and is probably the best I've seen. It was a perfect setting, as you could see from the photos, and a clear warm evening. It was maybe near 11 by the time the display stopped, and we joined the mass of people heading out onto the streets that ran parallel to the harbour, heading for the bus stops a few blocks up.
We managed to get on the first no. 30 bus we could find, which was free, and went all the way to the next street down from Donna and Bob's house. It was at least 11.30 by the time we got back, so we made a quick cup of tea and headed to bed.
The next day we were up a little earlier, but still not exactly with the sunrise, maybe 10am. We had breakfast and really just spent the day catching up with everyone via social media and getting some reading and writing done. At about 3pm I decided to go for a run but the afternoon heat stopped me maybe 15 minutes in, so the run wasn't a long one. I collapsed onto a chair when I returned and stayed there until Bob got home from work. We talked and watched the tennis, seeing Nadal get knocked out by Brown, and before long Donna came home too.
We had pulled pork in ciabatta and a bean salad for dinner, which was delicious, and sat out on the deck for a while getting to know each other a little better and telling a few stories from our trip. Before long, and it's funny how time flies when you're so relaxed, Donna and Bob were off to bed for their early work mornings (about 5am), and we were soon to follow. I stayed up a little longer to write my journal and upload a previous blog.
The for Friday was to get to the nearby swimming lake for midday and spend the afternoon there. With this is mind I got up at a reasonable time, about 8am, to go for a run, make a good breakfast (Turkey omelette) and write my blog. As I was sitting outside - it was 11am by this point - finishing off my blog all of a sudden, like someone turning on a switch, my world pitched and span in a unpleasantly acute bout of dizziness. I waited a few minutes for it to pass, and when it didn't I staggered into bed to weather it.
This odd spell lasted, in total, about 9 hours. Lying down was ok, but as soon as I got up I couldn't really walk for a nauseating swimming in my vision. The others said we'd go to the lake a different day, and obviously I said that they should still go, but everyone was content to have another day just relaxing. By the time Donna and Bob was home and everyone had eaten the Thai takeaway they'd bought for dinner, I was able to sit out on the deck - still feeling a little seasick but a lot better nonetheless. The rest of the evening was passed swapping stories about the family and showing pictures of all of Rosie's distance Canadian relatives, until we all finally called it a night at about 11.30.
And so that's some of our first days here in Victoria. Perhaps not the most exciting reading, but it certainly has been very nice to slow down and relax after the madness of Beaverfoot and even MSF before that.

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