Weekend in Oakville

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It's 22.53 on the 26th of May. So I think today I'll write about Saturday, Sunday & Monday. Dad, you didn't like the amount of alcohol consumed in the last few blogs - so you may want to look away now. I probably won't get it all done today, but I hopefully I can get it finished and uploaded by tomorrow night.
So Saturday. Since we weren't really asleep until about 3.30-4 the night before, we weren't up until 12 noon on Saturday. Eventually we got up, and Emily kindly cooked us pancakes, bacon and eggs - a pretty good way to kick start the morning. We hadn't really got much planned for the day, only that there was to be a barbecue in the evening. It was, however, Matt's birthday - so we all wished him a happy birthday and were extra nice to him throughout the day. (No presents though - we're pretty low on funds).
We finally decided that we would spend the day out with Rebecca, doing some shopping that needed doing and generally enjoying the beautiful 25•c sunny day. We hopped in the car, cranked up the music through the aux cable, and cruised through Oakville and made our way to our first stop - Walmart.
Walmart is, of course, the asda of North America - with everything you could ever need and lots of incredibly people to boot. We picked up toiletries etc that we needed, and bought the first lottery ticket I have ever bought - purely because the jackpot was $50 mil, and that kind of money would be useful.
From there we made a few more stops, then hit the freeway and headed into the lakeside area of Port Credit. Port Credit was a beautiful little harbour town, and we grabbed a quick Starbucks and wandered down the streets by the edge of the lake. The town was sunny and bustling with people, with the towers of Toronto visible in the distance.
By the time we left it was 5pm, so we headed home for the barbecue. We got home to Ron, Nicole, Emily and a family friend, Susan. We sat down outside with our bottles of wine from the day before, while Ron cooked the thickest steaks you've ever seen on the barbecue. We ate with grilled asparagus and a variety of salad, as well as a large jacket potato. Once we'd eaten, we all left one by one to shower and get ready to go out with Rebecca for Matt's birthday. The plan was to go to a friends house who was having a gathering, then head out to the bar for a few hours. Before we left, we had time to give Matt his birthday cake and sing them Happy Birthday.
We arrived at the house at about 9, and we let into a large kitchen, with about 12 guys all sitting round a table as well as an older couple, a few guitars between them - and plenty of beer. We sat down and we introduced. We met the older couple, who owned the house and parents to the two guys (in their early 20s) who played the most on the guitars. So we sat, grabbed, talked to those around us - and most of all listened to the music that was being played. Both sons were in bands - one internationally known, and we fantastic on the guitars. They would take any song, and turn it acoustic. Thus we spent the night singing along, and generally enjoying ourselves. We quickly abandoned the idea of going to the bar, and settled in for the night. It was gone 4.30 by the time we were home, and eating McDonalds.
We woke up at the agreeable time of 12.30 on Sunday, and slowly got ourselves packed for moving to the Toronto hostel for a night. We were doing this because we were to meet s friend of mine, Julliard, I met when in the Army Cadets 4 or 5 years ago. Once packed we said our goodbyes to Nicole, Rebecca and Emily, then headed into the city with Ron.
We dumped our bags off at the hostel after battling our way through traffic, then made our way through even heavier traffic to the base of the CN tower. Parking up, we headed to the ticket office only to find the queue was an hour long - which was more time than we had before Ron had to head off. So, we decided that we would do the CN tower the next day in the morning, and instead Ron would drop us off downtown and we would make our way back to the hostel, stopping a few times on the way.
First port of call was the bus station, where we successfully moved out tickets to Winnipeg back two weeks - for just a $20 exchange fee, which we were pleased about. The plan now is to only stop off in Winnipeg before moving on to Banff in two weeks. The next stop was the burger joint 5 Guys, which does the best burger going. This cleared us (unfortunately bar Kate) of the vestiges of our hangovers, and we made our way back to our room to shower and rest before headed out to meet Julliard.
Kate still wasn't feeling too rosy by the time we were due to leave, so she stayed back at the hostel. Matt, Rosie and I made our way to the subway - which is the most unnecessarily complicated and dated we have yet come across, if anyone is interested - and got off at Bathurst, in the North-West of the city, where we were to meet Julliard. It's a funny thing to meet an old friend that you haven't spoken to for several years. At first impression they seem so different to the image you have kept in your mind, but the longer you spend with them, the more you see the familiar mannerisms and characteristics. Julliard (his name is actually Mickael) and his girlfriend Caitlin, and the three of us headed down the road to a rooftop bar for a few beers and to begin a lengthy catchup. It was a beautiful evening, and it was fantastic to see Mike again.
Before long another of his friends, Brandon, met us, and we moved on to a bar in Kensington. It was a bar, much like the Trash Bar in Montreal, concealed behind a sketchy looking metal door that you normally would bypass without a second glance, but was really thriving and energetic.
We stayed at this bar for a while, drinking PBR - a fairly unpleasant beer, but cheap - and talked about the funny little differences in language and customs between British and Canadians. It was 12 by now and drizzling on and off, but we had time to make it to one more place - a Mexican bar where we ate and had our last drinks.
After this, we were to go to what kept being referred to simply as 'the roof'. We walked a little way to a building clearly empty at night, about 10 stories high, and made our way up the fire escape. Finally, we were met by a fence on the roof wall about 8 foot high, and topped with spikes. We clambered over this, and onto the roof of the building - where Mike and Brandon had come to frequently over the last few years - and you could see why. The view of the city was simply spectacular. The roof was high enough to put any close buildings out of the frame, and far enough away that the whole of the Toronto skyline fitted into one vista. It was incredible. We sat and watched for a while - and finally tore ourselves away to make our equally sketchy descent. We said goodbye to Mike, Brendan and Caitlin at the corner of Bloor and Bathurst, and made our way home - still revelling in such a fantastic night.
We got up at about 10 on the Monday as we needed to be out at 11, and so once again packed and left our luggage in the hold at the hostel before headed off to the CN tower. We stopped briefly at the hockey hall of fame of the way, reaching the tower at about 12. The queue was much shorter that morning, and we were crammed into the elevator a mere 20 minutes later. We were lifted up, up into the air - the glass front of the elevator (sorry, lift) giving a great view over the city. The view was, of course, extraordinary. However, as you say in your comment Dad, it seems futile to try and describe it too fully, as it will always miss the mark. The city and the greater Toronto area is massive, with tufts of high rise buildings sprouting between woodland, culminating in the great slab of glass, and concrete and motion that was the city. They had the classic glass floor which made your knees go funny, and an outdoor section which nearly blew you backwards.
Once we had had our fill, we headed back done, got a bite to eat at a nearby foodcourt, picked our bags up, and headed to the station. This time it was a train we were to catch, one of the huge, double levelled trains that look more like ships. This, it transpires, was not the way to travel in rush hour with bags. Of course, in a bus there is a luggage compartment and enough seats - here there were neither. We sat uncomfortable on our bags for a while, having to constantly stand and move things out the way for people as they got off and on. Finally, the train began to empty out and we got a seat - but before long we had arrived in Stouffville.
Within 10 minutes Mel was down to pick us up, and we were back at good old Meadow Sweet - back in the same cabins and all. The new guy - Danish or Dutch I can't remember - was still there, but had moved into the house. Not much else happened that evening that I can recall, I went for a run, we ate and read and caught up with everyone etc.
We are now back to our usual selves at the farm. And so, that's our second weekend in Toronto.

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