Jingle Bells...

Having struggled for inspiration on the title front, I have settled for something suitably festive, if somewhat irrelevant, in what could be the last pre-Christmas update. As ever, things are bowling along well here, and the past ten days have thrown up a number of memorable moments. We're slowly getting round to decorating the house, and a christmas tree was the first point of call. Having discussed the merits of purchasing a tree vs. cutting one down ourselves, a balaclava-clad Coote (photos to follow...) took matters into his own hands whilst the rest of the house were out skiing, and chopped one down. When questioned as to where the tree came from, he proudly announced it was "from the garden"... whether our landlord will share his enthusiasm remains to be seen. The next step, which we haven't quite got round to yet, is making it look pretty -  fortunately a box of decorations were left in the house, ready and waiting for us. Disappointingly, and somewhat bizarrely, the box largely consists of mouse-shaped or related decorations; we can only assume that a previous inhabitant had some sort of ill-advised rodent fetish, which perhaps explains the unwanted visitors from the start of our stay (see blog number one).

The skiing has only got better since the last post, with the last few lifts at the top of the mountain finally opening, and another foot or more of fresh snow falling. We've spent the last couple of days exploring 'Seventh Heaven', an area which has just opened up, much to the joy of the locals we've bumped into. As the name suggests, it is pretty damn good. Coote and I have also done our first 'hike' of the trip - scrambling up to the top of a ridge with our skis on our back, and skiing off into unchartered territory. Definitely not something we expected to be doing this early in the season, and made all the more enjoyable by the fact Leo was enduring a day-long orientation at the hotel he works at. Fulfilling my role as the ever-supportive older brother, I was keeping him updated via text on what was one of the best days we've had so far; we reached the summit of our hike just as he sat down for an hour long carbon emissions seminar - essential knowledge for any good housekeeper... perhaps not?!

Getting used to Canadian snow conditions has also taken some getting used to - the sparsely covered pistes of the Alps seem a world away, and waist deep powder is certainly challenging, and has resulted in some pretty spectacular falls/collisions. Earlier today, Coote completed his first frontflip of the trip - an involuntary frontflip, but a frontflip nonethless. While he did receive a round of applause from the lift he unfortunately found himself beneath, one of his skis was nowhere to be seen when he got back to his feet. After a full twenty minutes of digging around the impact spot, we eventually found said ski buried beneath three feet of snow - it will be a dark day when the first person loses a ski completely, but it seems like it may happen. Leo and I also took brotherly love to another level recently, with a high-speed collision on our first day at the highest point of the mountain. Both verging on out-of-control, on a particularly mogul-covered run, we turned simultaneously and headed towards each other and quickly realised neither of us could stop - our immediate reactions were to put both fists out and close our eyes. Fortunately my lanky limbs meant that Leo was the recipient of a double-fisted punch to the chest, and I escaped unscathed.

As expected, we've also been finding time for the odd drink - Kara has pioneered the 12-hour apres-ski session, and the girls joined us for a few post-skiing beers today... despite the fact they hadn't made it up the mountain. Kara's influence rubbed off on Coote the other day when, having promised to cook dinner that night, the bottom of a pint glass seemed a more attractive option - Leo and I decided it was safest not to leave him alone in the kitchen when he got home. Unfortunately our bank balances aren't quite as rosy as a few weeks ago, meaning house parties are taking preference to hitting the clubs - we had a load of friends round on Friday night, and then headed to a party near our house on Saturday. It turned out to be a pretty epic night - an American style house party (red cups, kegs on the balcony etc), with an alpine twist (wet floors throughout the building, yellow snow by the front door) - and there was even a DJ in the living room. We're planning on having a party sometime between Christmas and New Year, in order to lead Nat astray while he's out here, and the gauntlet has definitely been thrown down. My previous gloating about Leo using my driving licence as ID has also come back to haunt me - the cretin managed to lose it last week so is looking at a dry spell before his birthday next week - my sympathy has been unsurprisingly limited.

We're looking forward to spending Christmas with Mum, Dad, Nat, Granny and Aunty Sarah, and are trying to shuffle shifts at work around to be able to ski with them as much as possible when they arrive next week. This hasn't proven too difficult for Coote and I, as hours are still a little thin on the ground, and we're hoping to have Christmas dinner at Leo's place of work. We also have Leo and Coote's birthdays to look forward to, and we hope the Cheltenham crew don't neglect the Christmas Eve night out tradition; get the gin in Tom! Over and out, love Josh, Leo and Sam.

Waving Goodbye to the World of Unemployment

As the title suggests, the three of us have now kicked off our working lives in Whistler, and we're hoping the cash will be rolling in before too long. While we have all nailed down jobs and had our first couple of shifts, getting enough hours is now the next hurdle - Coote has endured a couple of depressing 45 minute shifts and I've been told I won't be able to work more than three days a week until mid-December. The town is gradually getting busier though, so hopefully we should be able avoid life on the breadline for a while yet. Coote and I are looking for a second job to help supplement what we have already, and Leo has managed to land himself another already - working as a cleaner in a hotel and earning the princely wage of fifteen bucks an hour; I may soon be relying on my younger brother for cash handouts.

The unquestionable up-side to limited hours at work is the resultant scope for extra-curricular activities, with skiing top of the list. We've been getting up the mountain at every possible opportunity - Leo is leading the way so far with ten days skiing out of a possible twelve, although KK and I are close behind with one less. This has inevitably resulted in a certain amount of hungover skiing, and while the mountain air does seem to be a good cure, I have found myself resorting to snowplow turns on particularly painful mornings. We've now covered the vast majority of open pistes (some of the higher lifts are still yet to open) and have been gradually getting more adventurous; having eyed up a lengthy off-piste trail from a lift the other day, we decided to take the plunge... and immediately regretted it. A particularly memorable moment was watching Coote struggle to get back to his feet in waist-deep powder - after five minutes of watching and giggling I got my camera out, only to capture the moment he got back to his feet... See below (and also marvel at the fact I have worked out how to include a photo in the blog!)

We also took some time out of our busy schedule this weekend to take in the World Bobsleigh Championships, which were being held in Whistler, which has its own dedicated 'Sliding Centre'. For the bargain price of ten dollars, we watched the world's best sleighers strut their stuff, and it was bloody impressive. Having started the day hoping for a 'Cool Runnings' style underdog to support, we quickly seized upon Monaco who, unsurprisingly, proved to be pretty inept, although Slovakia gave them a run for their money. The track they go on is, in parts, a vertical wall of ice and they go absurdly fast - the Canadian team also had a pretty spectacular crash which we narrowly missed, alas. The blokes who do it are also pretty impressive specimens, and getting a glimpse into the team changing rooms certainly brightened up KK's day... In the end it came down to a head to head between the German and American teams, and the Americans won to become World as well as Olympic champions, just in case anybody cares...

Now for the first, and probably not the last, injury related paragraph of the holiday. Leo came a cropper on a particularly treacherous blue run the other day, resulting in an impressive black eye which is now turning a nice shade of yellow. He puts the blame down to 'icy patches' and 'catching an edge'... I can only cite poor technique. Meanwhile, Coote's ski boot woes have continued - after suffering all day recently, he took his boot off to find his toenail had turned a nasty shade of purple. He's had a couple of days off now and had his boots readjusted so is hoping to return to the slopes on Saturday - he also attacked the offending toenail with a hot pin tonight (on the recommendation of the ski boot chappy), which seems to have done the trick; I won't go into further detail.

Extended members of the Gadsby family will hopefully be pleased to hear we have brought 'Corks' to a wider audience. While we did substitute the corks for spoons, levels of competitiveness were as high as ever, and Leo and I managed to keep the family name intact with an all-Gadsby final. While Leo did eventually prevail, I direct you to the photos of him man-handling me as some sort of explanation; never before have I witnessed such outrageous cheating. We also had an interesting incident following a night out this week, waking to find saturated carpets down two flights of stairs. We can only assume somebody left a tap on, and there has been an in-house witch hunt to find the culprit; Emily continues to protest her innocence, but we are all quietly confident she is to blame... Anyway, we have a night out to attend to -  much love to one and all, Josh, Leo and Sam xxx

Let it Snow

The snow has arrived! Having spent two weeks willing it to come, the heavens opened at the end of last week - just a light covering in the village and around the house, but enough on the mountain for the powers that be to open the resort a week early! After some temporary issues with our lift passes, we got onto the mountain for the first time on Saturday and had an incredible day - blue skies and lovely powder. The bone-chilling temperatures (-18˚C yesterday) are going to take some getting used to, and signs saying 'Watch out for frostbite' are certainly a little worrying; tomorrow we are expecting 'highs' of -17˚C - certainly nothing to write home about...

We've also been having slight issues with our newly purchased ski boots; the bloke in the ski shop warned us that they would seem a bit tight at the start, but he didn't prepare us for the intense pain this tightness would cause. Indeed, during a quick thawing out session yesterday, Coote ripped off his boots to find they had drawn blood - the fact that he couldn't feel his feet meant he hadn't noticed the blood seeping through his socks. Hopefully after a few weeks they'll ease up, and in the meantime we'll grin and bear it - we've got a good group who are all a similar standard skiing-wise so we're making the most of the slopes; at the moment only ten percent of the lifts are open so when everything opens up on Thursday it will be a shock to the system!

As well as the incredible skiing, we've had our first taste of ice-hockey, which was unforgettable to say the least. Having gone down to the sports centre for a free ice-skating session, we ended up having rings run around us by a group of local kids for almost two hours - proficiency on skates would certainly have helped our cause. Despite our evident lack of talent, we had a hilarious game - Emily developed a unique   technique of following her shots nose-first down the ice, and my competitive side definitely kicked in; I realised it was time to call it a day when I caught myself considering the best way of tripping up a particularly speedy 10 year old girl.

We're enjoying getting to know our housemates - a late night bonding session last week again descended into chaos. Playing twister, arm wrestling and indulging in a cinnamon eating competition all seemed like a good idea whilst blind drunk, but the photos tell a different story... Having initially been worried that our housemates could be a bit reserved (due to our landlord's insistence that he doesn't deal with 'party people'), we've quickly realised they are anything but - we're doing our best to keep up with them.

The three of us have also been briefed on everything we need to succeed as workers in Whistler - in order to qualify for a discounted lift pass, we had to sit through a two and a half hour talk designed to inspire us to better ourselves etc etc. Their 'inspirational' (cringeworthy) motto was 'Connect, Assist, Exceed', and we had the once in a lifetime experience of a motivational talk delivered by a man with Tourettes Syndrome, aptly nicknamed 'Twitchy' - he finished with a tear in his eye. While the organisers were seemingly hoping they would end the talk to a chorus of 'Hallelujah's', we were underwhelmed...

Leo and Coote's favourite memory of the week was a moment of particular misfortune on my part. I was strolling along in the middle of the day, talking to Coote who was across the street, only to walk straight into a lampost - at full pace. Miraculously, I escaped without a trademark black eye. The story probably loses something in the translation, but the uncontrolled laughter of Coote, Leo and assorted housemates is still ringing in my ears!

We all start work properly later this week, with the restaurants gearing up for American Thanksgiving at the weekend, so we're enjoying our last few days of blissful unemployment. We'll hopefully be skiing every day this week as we're mostly working evenings, and Coote is looking forward to a staff menu tasting at his restaurant tomorrow - rest assured there will be no leftovers with Sam 'The Dustbin' Coote around. We're also going to see Harry Potter tomorrow night, having heard rave reviews from various people across the pond, and uni friends will be glad to hear I've kept up my passion for cooking programmes - 'Come Dine With Me Canada' is a personal favourite. Love to one and all, Josh Leo and Sam

Scrilla in our wallets...

So, another week in Whistler, another seven days of job hunting (which has increasingly turned into afternoon drinking)... We are happy to report that the three of us are now gainfully employed and start work later this week. Following the job fairs last week, Coote and I were offered second interviews at 'Brewhouse', a big pub/restaurant in the village. Inexplicably, they offered Coote the job and not me, but we shan't dwell on that... I've managed to secure a somewhat less appealing job, working at 'The Spaghetti Factory', which bears a depressing similarity to Pizza Hut. Meanwhile Leo has also got a good job, working as a waiter (or busser in Canadian lingo) at 'The Keg' - we've all got orientation days in the week and hoping we will be able to get as many hours as possible from then onwards. Most of the house are now employed and we've had some funny days sitting around the house waiting for calls from various jobs - the first person to get a call now expects a tirade of abuse from the rest of us; Emily can be particularly vicious.

Coote and I had our first nights work on Friday at a 'Casino Royale' event at a restaurant in town. It advertised itself as a charity event, but was seemingly an excuse for the socialites of Whistler and the surrounding area to come and get plastered... There were lots of fake breasts and somewhat pervy chaps around, but working it was pretty fun. We met a lot of people who were in similar situations to us, one of whom particularly sticks in my memory - a French guy called Pascal who informed me he was sleeping in his car for the season. I was imagining a camper van of some sort, as he seemed completely unphased by the approaching winter weather, but when I asked him if he had cooking facilities etc in his car, he simply told me he 'mainly eats raw foods' - It may be a long winter for Pascal...

While the job situation is looking rather more promising than at the time of the last post, we woke the other day to find the contents of our rubbish bags had been scattered across the rubbish room. It seems we're getting regular visits from some form of vermin, and despite the best efforts of our housemate Andy, we are yet to catch it. Indeed, whatever it is has seemingly got used to the way a mousetrap works, and has developed a technique of removing the food from the trap whilst avoiding destruction. Andy's fingers haven't been so lucky. While we were sleeping safe in the knowledge that the rat/racoon/elk could only get into the rubbish room, the pest control guy came round the other day and found animal droppings in our bathroom - directly opposite our bedroom. Thankfully Leo is closest to the door so Coote and I are hoping any rats will be joining him in bed rather than us, and the landlord assures us he'll catch whatever it is before long. Failing that, we assume it won't be long before they hibernate!

In other news, we are counting down the hours until the mountain opens for the first time on Friday. It's ahead of schedule and all the locals are 'stoked' about the first day 'shredding' so we've got high expectations; there's still no snow in the village so we're hoping that might come this week. While there still isn't enough snow on the lower slopes, the resort is massive so you get the lifts up to the higher section where the snow is good - we can't wait. We've also got to shell out for our lift passes this week but we do get a pretty decent discount as we're working. We're also hoping to exploit a loophole in the family ticket bookings - as an 18 year old, Leo is still eligible for a youth pass and I hopefully qualify as his parent/guardian meaning we get a further 10% off. The fact that I'm evidently his brother may prove a stumbling block, but fingers crossed...

We also had an exciting moment in the early hours of this morning - having stumbled to the bus stop from locals night at a bar in town, Leo and I came across a bear. My attempt at securing photographic evidence proved unsuccessful unfortunately, and a picture of a bus stop is all I have to remember it by... You'll have to take our word for it. It was pretty impressive and seemed unperturbed by the people milling around - they're desperate for food at this time of year as they're about to hibernate, so they end up coming right into the village.

Thankfully, our lack of jobs has allowed us to truly embrace the nightlife of Whistler. There are numerous clubs open every night of the week, and they already seem pretty busy so it will be crazy when all the tourists arrive. You'll also be happy to hear that Leo's managed to find his way into all the clubs despite being underage - using my driving license is working a treat so far. While we were initially worried that the cost of booze out here would be prohibitive, we've managed to find a way around it... in the form of cheap cider! They have a ridiculous range of flavours out here, and we're gradually sampling each one - last night was pomegranate, and grapefruit is next on the list. Peach flavour has been the only flop so far.

We've taken some more photos of the house so we'll put them on facebook in due course - I'm sure there is a way to incorporate them into the blog, but that's a bit too high-tech for my little brain unfortunately. Anyway, hope you are all well and delighted to see we have eight followers - it really makes us feel special. Josh Leo and Sam xxx

Hello from Canada

Well here goes, our first step into the world of blogging - certainly not a step I would have seen myself taking a year ago! Anyway, our aim is to keep you all informed, and hopefully slightly jealous, of our Canadian exploits. We'll also keep posting photos on Facebook - while they will mostly be snaps of Leo pole-dancing, hopefully I'll get in a few of the beautiful Canadian scenery, and some more detailed shots of our house to give you a better idea of our living arrangements...

So, I'll start at the beginning. After a typically tearful farewell from Mum at the airport, Leo, Coote and I set sail for Vancouver, jobless, accommodationless and (in my case) Visa-less. The first hurdle was overcome, although not without worrying moments - having got past the first set of passport control with a few white lies, we were then confronted by 'Customs Inspector Wicharuk', who quite quickly saw through our 'two of us are working for the season and one is just skiing' story. After some pretty irate words from Monsieur Wicharuk, we did manage to smooth things over - it turned out my visa had been authorised and I was free to go, work permit in hand.

After a night at a hostel in Vancouver, we then quickly headed for the mountains. We certainly hope to see more of Vancouver as it seemed like a cool city, but we pretty much only had time to go to bed and get up before getting the bus up to Whistler. The bus up took two and a half hours and, amazingly, me and Leo managed to stay awake the whole way up to take in the pretty amazing scenery - Coote said Ian would have been particularly impressed. We then headed for our hostel in Whistler, which had been used for athletes accommodation at the Olympics, so was suitably plush... We were sharing a room with an elusive character named Brian, whose bags and clothing were in the room throughout our stay. However, after two nights and three days in the hostel, Brian was yet to show his face - we can only assume he was eaten by a bear.

Our first task was finding somewhere to lay our heads for the forseeable future, and this turned out to be surprisingly simple. We logged onto craigslist which has a lot of accommodation listings, and immediately found a guy looking for 3 blokes to fill the last room in a house of 10. We arranged a viewing and were certain we wanted it within about 30 seconds. This was further cemented when our rather serious landlord took us out to show us the hot tub - we could hardly believe our luck and struggled to keep a straight face, whilst ensuring him we were quiet individuals who had not come to Whistler to party.... We're living with two English girls (Emily and Kara), two Australian girls (Katie and  KK), a Scottish couple (Laura and Andy) and a Canadian girl (Jenna) - so far everyone's getting on really well and we're all job hunting together in the days. We also had our first house meal and night out on Saturday which inevitably descended into drunken chaos (see photos... Granny, look away!).

We've also managed to sort out Canadian phones, bank accounts etc which was all fairly tedious, and the final step is finding a job. Coote and I have managed to line up work at a Casino Royale event on Friday, but coming by something a bit more permanent is looking tricky. We've had a particularly tedious day today, and have spent a cumulative total of 5 hours queueing at two job fairs, with a fairly short and informal interview the only prize at the end of each. However, everybody assures us that as soon as the snow comes, the tourists soon follow and then all the restaurants and bars have a big recruitment drive - so we're hoping to be sorted by the end of November at the latest. In the meantime, we're enjoying being unemployed - drinking and whiling away the hours in the hot-tub is certainly a good fall-back.

In other news, which only some of you will understand, Coote received a particularly unusual email from Sam McManus today, with the first line reading, "I guess a few of you are quite angry about what you've heard about the way I treated my now ex-girlfriend, Silja...." - he went on to give us the happy news of the birth of his first child - strange, but true...

So I hope you are all suitably updated, and we will endeavour to keep posting on this - don't hold your breath between posts, as you know what we're like, and we may even get jobs at some point! Anyway, we are missing you all, although thankfully we are having enough fun to keep our minds of it. Hope you're all well, much love, Josh, Leo and Sam xxx